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PRESS    OF    WM.    F.    FELL    CO. 
PHILADELPHIA 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

IN  preparing  this  work  the  author  has  based 
it  upon  his  own  experiences  as  an  inspector 
of  almshouses  and  as  the  superintendent  of 
an  institution  for  defectives.  But  he  has  also 
drawn  freely  upon  the  Proceedings  of  the  National 
Conference;  the  reports  of  various  State  Boards  of 
Charity,  especially  those  of  Massachusetts,  New 
Hampshire,  Ohio,  and  Indiana;  the  Report  of  the 
British  Commission  on  Poor  Laws;  Aschrott's 
book  on  the  English  Poor  Law  System,  and  one  or 
two  minor  sources. 

He  wishes  to  acknowledge  his  particular  in- 
debtedness to  the  following  persons  whose  writings 
he  has  used,  sometimes  in  quotations,  sometimes 
in  paraphrases:  Mrs.  Alice  N.  Lincoln,  Mrs. 
Charles  R.  Lowell,  Miss  Mary  Vida  Clark,  Mr. 
Ernest  Bicknell,  Mr.  Amos  W.  Butler,  Mr.  Joseph 
P.  Byers,  Dr.  Albert  G.  Byers,  Mr.  John  Glenn, 
Mr.  Almont  W.  Gates,  Mr.  A.  O.  Wright,  Professor 
Charles  Ellwood,  Mr.  George  S.  Wilson,  Mr.  H.  H. 
Giles,  General  Roeliflf  Brinkerhoff,  and  Rt.  Rev. 
G.  D.  Gillespie. 

Some  of  these  have  joined  the  majority,  but 
their  works  survive  them  and  form  part  of  what 
the  writer  believes  to  be  the  most  valuable,  as  it 
is  probably  the  largest,  collection  of  sociological 
information  in  the  world, — The  Proceedings  of  the 
National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction. 

Fort  Wayne,  Indiana 
May  I,  191 1 

V 

Nt32731 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Acknowledgment v 

List  OF  Illustrations xi 

I.  Introductory i 

1 1 .  Location  and  Capacity 8 

III.  Construction i6 

IV.  The  Administration 46 

V.  The  Inmates 57 

VI.  Management 85 

VI 1.  Care  of  the  Sick 117 

VI 11.  Mental  Defectives 126 

IX.  Miscellaneous 131 


APPENDICES 

APPENDIX  PAGE 

I.  Evils    of    Promiscuous    Mingling    of 
Classes  in  the  Almshouse  .       .       •     i4» 

Extract  from  the  Minority  Report  of  the  British  Poor  Law 
Commission,  1909 

II.  The  Origin  of  the  British  Workhouse 

System 149 

Written  for  this  volume 

III.  County  Hospitals 158 

Extract  from  Minutes  of  the  National  Conference  of  Chari- 
ties and  Correction.  1905 

vii 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

APPENDIX  PAGE 

IV.  Average  Numbers  of  Inmates  in  Alms- 
houses OF  Ten  States   .       .       .       ,160 

Compiled  for  this  volume 

V.  A.  The  Indiana  Law  Governing  County 

Asylums  (Almshouses)    .       .       .       .163 

From  the  Indiana  Statutes  of  1899 

B.  Remarks  on  the  Indiana  Law  .       .168 

Written  by  the  author  of  the  Bill  which  became  Law 

VI.  The  Function  OF  THE  Almshouse   .       .     171 

Extract  from  a  paper  read  by  Mary  Vida  Clark  at  the 
National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  1900 

VII.  A.  Classification  IN  Almshouses  .     i8i 

Extract  from  the  Report  of  the  British  Poor  Law  Com- 
mission 

B.  Cottage  Homes  as  Parts  of  the  Alms- 
house          184 

Paper  on  The  Firvale  Union  Cottage  Homes  and  Classifi- 
cation of  Public  Dependents,  read  by  Mrs.  Alice  N.  Lincoln 
at  the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
1905 

C.  The  System  in  Denmark     .       .  193 

Written  for  this  volume  and  including  a  translation  of  a 
report  on  the  Asylum  for  the  Aged,  prepared  for  the  Inter- 
national Congress  at  Copenhagen,  1910 

VIII.  County  Houses  of  Correction  in  New 

Hampshire 198 

Extract  from  the  Sixth  Biennial  Report  of  the  New  Hamp- 
shire State  Board  of  Charities 

IX.  A.  Imbeciles  IN  THE  Almshouse  .     201 

B.  Feeble -MiNDEDNEss  as  an    Inheri- 
tance          202 

Extract  from  a  paper  read  by  Ernest  P.  Bicknell  at  the 
National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  1896 

C.  Appendix  to   Presidential  Address 

OF  Amos  W.  Butler  .210 

From  Proceedings  of  the  National  Conference  of  Charities 
and  Correction,  1907 

viii 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

APPENDIX  PAGE 

X.  Advice  to  an  Almshouse  Superinten- 
dent   215 

Extract  from  a  paper  read  by  Ernest  P.  Bicknell  at  the 
National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  1896 

XI.  Occupations  for  Defectives        .       .219 

Written  for  this  volume 

XII.  The  Man  who  Never  Bathed      .       .221 

An  actual  occurrence 

XIII.  Competitive  Purchase  of  Supplies     .     223  - 

From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Indiana  Board  of  State 
Charities,  1904 

XIV.  Workhouse  Nursing,  by  Florence  Night- 

ingale         227 

From  the  Introduction  to  Una  and  her  Paupers 

XV.  One  Means  OF  Preventing  Pauperism      229 

Extract  from  a  paper  read  by  Mrs.  Charles  Russell  Low- 
ell at  the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correc- 
tion, 1879 

XVI.  Instances  of  Improper  Treatment  of 

THE  Insane  in  Almshouses        .       .     236 

Written  for  this  volume 

XVII.  Plans  OF  Model  Institutions  .     239 

XVIII.  Specimen   Entry  from  a   Day  Book, 

and  Specimen  Record  Cards  .       .     245 

Index 249 


IX 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTORY 

IMPORTANCE  OF  RIGHT  METHODS 

SO  LONG  as  there  shall  be  poor  people  to  be 
cared  for  by  public  charity,  a  place  of  refuge, 
an  asylum  for  worn  out  and  feeble  men  and 
women,  will  probably  be  a  necessity.  The  pur- 
pose of  this  volume  is  to  indicate  in  a  plain  and 
simple  manner  a  few  of  those  things  which  are 
often  overlooked,  but  which,  if  carefully  attended 
to,  make  for  comfort  and  economy  in  connection 
with  such  an  institution. 

It  may  seem  to  the  reader  that  many  suggestions 
are  here  made  on  matters  that  would  be  self-evident 
to  any  intelligent  person,  but  none  are  made 
in  writing  which  have  not  been  made  verbally 
where  the  need  of  instruction  and  advice  has  been 
apparent.  With  very  few  exceptions,  no  method 
is  proposed  in  this  book  which  is  not  in  more  or 
less  successful  practice  somewhere.  Several  ex- 
cellent methods  in  use  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  are  recommended,  and  some  of  those  here 
advised  as  suitable  to  almshouses  of  moderate 
size  have  proved  effective  in  institutions  of  a 
different  class.     No  evils  or  errors  are  reprobated 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

or  warned  against,  which  have  not  been  observed 
by/tlk^.,i/Hier  or  by  others  upon  whose  veracity  he 
,.  can,  depend.  That  is  to  say,  the  work  is  based 
upon  actual  conditions,  not  upon  theories. 

While  parsimony  is  always  to  be  deplored,  the 
importance  of  true  economy  in  almshouse  manage- 
ment can  hardly  be  overestimated.  But  while  con- 
sidering economy  in  our  methods  for  the  relief  of 
poverty  in  one  department,  we  must  not  overlook 
its  bearing  upon  others;  we  must  consider  the 
problem  as  a  whole;  hence  it  by  no  means  follows 
that  the  almshouse  with  the  lowest  per  capita  cost 
is  the  most  economical  for  the  community.  In 
many  instances  the  alternative  of  almshouse  care 
is  outdoor  relief.  Now,  of  all  forms  of  public 
charity,  outdoor  relief,  except  under  the  most 
careful  supervision,  is  the  most  liable  to  abuse,  the 
most  certain  to  grow  to  an  inordinate  amount. 
An  almshouse  which  is  so  conducted  as  to  be 
repellent  may  be  a  cause  of  unnecessary  increase 
of  outdoor  relief. 

People  not  really  in  need  of  its  shelter  will  rarely 
seek  admission  to  the  almshouse.  But  many  will 
accept  outdoor  relief  who  are  not  really  in  need 
of  charitable  aid  and  probably  would  get  on  pretty 
well  without  it  if  they  were  offered  the  alternative 
of  admission  to  the  almshouse  or  nothing.  When, 
therefore,  the  institution  is  known  to  be  so  bare  of 
comfort,  so  severe  in  its  discipline,  or  so  badly 
managed,  that  public  opinion  will  not  sanction  a 
decent  old  person's  being  forced  into  it,  then  out- 


INTRODUCTORY 

door  relief  inevitably  increases  in  amount,  and 
with  its  increase  comes  a  rapid  growth  in  the 
amount  of  general  pauperism. 

A  well-managed,  comfortable  almshouse  is  a 
preventive  of  unnecessary  pauperism.  Those  who 
really  need  public  care  can  have  it  there,  and 
those  who  do  not  need  it  will  not  seek  it  there. 
An  ill-kept,  disorderly  almshouse,  without  proper 
classification  of  inmates,  without  thorough  disci- 
pline and  order,  without  efficient  control  over  those 
whom  it  feeds  and  clothes,  and  without  any  per- 
manence in  its  relations  to  the  degenerates  among 
those  for  whom  it  cares,  may  be  not  only  a  cause 
of  dire  waste  of  public  funds,  but  will  inevitably 
promote  and  increase  pauperism  and  degeneracy 
and  all  the  human  ills  that  come  from  them. 

To  fully  appreciate  the  social  degradation  that 
may  result  from  the  conditions  that  are  frequently 
found  in  a  large  mixed  almshouse,  we  must  go 
across  the  Atlantic*  But  a  candid  observer  will 
be  obliged  to  admit  that,  while  the  evils  complained 
of  in  such  documents  as  the  report  of  the  British 
Commission  are  not  yet  so  highly  developed  in 
this  country,  the  beginnings  of  every  one  of  them 
may  be  found  here.  Conditions  exist  today  in 
institutions  belonging  to  cities  of  enormous  wealth 
and  unexampled  prosperity  that  are  most  repellent 
to  every  right-minded  observer. 

The  difficulties  of  proper  management  of  an 

*  See  Appendix  I,  page  141,  an  extract  from  the  Report  of  the 
British  Poor  Law  Commission  of  1910. 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

institution  for  the  poor  increase  rapidly  with  the 
number  gathered  together  under  one  roof.  This 
fact  is  so  important  and  so  positive  that  every 
effort  should  be  made  to  break  up  the  vast  aggrega- 
tions of  paupers  which  we  now  fmd  in  some  places, 
into  smaller  and  more  manageable  units;  as,  for 
example,  by  the  cottage  system,  which  secures  for 
a  large  institution  many  of  the  advantages  of  the 
smaller  ones. 

Statesmen  in  the  United  States  may  well  study 
such  documents  as  the  one  alluded  to  above. 
The  American  system  of  poor  relief  has  been  largely 
modeled  upon  that  of  England;  the  history  of  its 
development  has  been  remarkably  similar  to  the 
history  of  poor  relief  in  England  and  Wales. 
Fortunately  we  are  not  yet  too  far  along  the  down- 
ward course  to  halt  and  retrace  our  steps.  We 
have  not  yet  accumulated,  as  has  Great  Britain, 
"a  class  not  only  numerically  great,  but  steadily 
increasing,  of  physical,  mental,  and  moral  defectives 
of  her  own  producing,  who  have  in  turn  created 
problems  in  sociology,  criminology,  and  public 
health  which  threaten  her  national  existence." 

That  the  British  system  of  poor  relief,  and  es- 
pecially the  English  workhouse  system,  as  it  has 
been  administered,  is  responsible  for  a  large  share 
in  the  creation  of  the  specter  of  decadence  which 
now  haunts  the  British  government,  is  certain. 
If  it  has  done  nothing  else,  it  has  kept  alive  and 
secured  the  perpetuation  of  a  large  number  of 
ill-nourished,  physically,  mentally,  and  morally 

4 


INTRODUCTORY 

inefficient  people;  while  it  has  avowedly  and 
deliberately  refused  to  do  more  than  keep  them 
barely  alive.  It  distinctly  refuses  anything  in  the 
nature  of  prevention  of  poverty.  Its  sole  purpose 
is  to  relieve  destitution  and  it  does  this  in  a  manner 
to  encourage,  if  not  to  enforce,  the  perpetuation 
of  the  destitution  it  relieves.  Many  other  causes 
have  contributed  to  the  total  ill  effect,  not  the 
least  of  which  is  the  habit  of  alcoholism  which 
seems  fastened  upon  so  many  of  the  people.  Yet 
how  many  of  these  contributing  causes  are  them- 
selves the  effects  of  the  degeneration  which  they 
in  turn  increase,  it  is  not  easy  to  calculate. 

The  problem  of  the  almshouse  is  not  merely  a 
problem  of  economical  administration,  nor  of 
human  comfort  and  happiness;  it  is  a  part  of  the 
great  social  problem  of  poverty  which  confronts  us, 
and  must  be  considered  in  its  general  relations, 
especially  its  relations  to  the  causes,  the  relief,  and 
the  prevention  of  poverty.  Any  remedial  institu- 
tion, organization,  or  method  which  increases  the 
evils  it  is  designed  to  cure,  while  merely  palliating 
some  of  their  effects,  must  show  an  imperative 
necessity  for  existence,  or  be  wiped  out.  In  order 
that  the  almshouse  or  other  institution  shall  be  a 
benefit  and  not  a  detriment  to  the  body  politic,  we 
must  make  sure  that  it  shall  not,  either  positively 
or  negatively,  encourage  and  foster  degeneracy,  as 
will  be  the  case  if  it  does  nothing  for  degenerate 
human  beings  but  to  keep  them  alive  and  allow 
them  to  increase  and  multiply.     Care  for  them 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

kindly  the  almshouse  must  when  they  come  to  it. 
But  care  of  defectives  has  a  necessary  corollary, 
and  that  is  control.  At  present  a  great  many  of 
our  almshouses,  perhaps  the  majority  of  them,  are 
doing  the  first;  they  are  making  their  inmates 
fairly  comfortable.  But  very  few  of  them  are 
doing  all  that  they  should  in  the  way  of  control- 
partly  because  they  do  not  realize  the  need,  partly 
because  they  do  not  know  how  to  exert  the  power, 
but  chiefly  because  our  laws  do  not  plainly  pre- 
scribe the  duty,  nor  authorize  the  method  of 
performing  it. 

Although  other  administrative  problems  are  the 
main  theme  of  this  book,  a  firmer  control  of  the 
defective  inmates  of  almshouses  than  is  at  present 
usually  exercised  is  plainly  demanded,  and  a  few 
methods  of  securing  it  which  have  been  successfully 
employed  are  suggested  in  the  following  pages. 


THE  NAME  OF  THE  INSTITUTION 

In  all  our  newer  nomenclature  we  are  continually 
trying  to  find  milder  names  for  disagreeable  things, 
by  which  we  may  seem  to  soften  the  harsh  facts  of 
existence.  But  a  change  of  name  usually  indicates 
something  more  than  a  desire  for  euphemism.  It 
has  usually  been  with  a  genuine  desire  to  make  the 
almshouse  into  a  real  home  for  worthy  poor  people 
that  a  change  of  name  has  been  adopted.  With  a 
less  offensive  term  has  usually  come  a  milder  and 
kinder  management. 

6 


INTRODUCTORY 

The  names  of  the  institutions  differ  in  different 
states  and  countries.  In  Great  Britain  the  "  Union 
Workhouse"  is  the  legal  name  of  the  public  insti- 
tution for  the  poor.*  The  term  ''almshouse''  is 
most  frequent  in  New  England  and  in  some  of  the 
Eastern  states;  in  the  Middle  West  ''poorhouse''  is 
the  most  common;  in  Ohio  the  legal  name  is 
"county  infirmary";  in  Indiana  it  is  the  "county 
asylum";  in  New  York  City  the  institution  is 
called  the  "Home  for  the  Aged  and  Infirm";  in 
Maryland  it  is  the  "county  home";  in  California 
the  "county  hospital";!  and  in  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, "almshouse"  was  recently  changed  to  "city 
home." 

If  it  were  not  for  its  suggestion  of  insanity,  the 
Indiana  name  of  "asylum"  would  be  the  most 
appropriate.  Possibly  the  "Home  for  the  Aged 
and  Infirm"  is  the  most  free  from  disagreeable  con- 
notations of  any.  For  the  purposes  of  this  book 
the  common  term  "almshouse"  will  be  used. 

*  See  Appendix  II,  page  149,  on  the  Origin  of  the  English  Work- 
house System. 

t  See  Appendix  III,  page  158,  on  Methods  of  the  County  Hospital 
with  its  poorhouse  department  in  California. 


CHAPTER  II 
LOCATION  AND  CAPACITY 

THE  LOCATION 

SPEAKING  for  the  vast  majority  of  alms- 
houses in  the  United  States  we  can  say 
that  the  location  chosen  should  be  in  the 
country,  not  too  far  from  the  centers  of  population 
they  are  to  serve.  The  advantages  of  pure  air, 
cheap  land,  and  pleasant  surroundings,  are  all  on 
the  side  of  the  country  as  opposed  to  the  crowded 
town  or  city.  On  the  other  hand,  accessibility  is  of 
vital  importance,  not  only  in  order  to  bring  the 
expense  of  transportation  to  a  minimum,  but  also 
to  make  easy  that  general  public  knowledge  of 
public  institutions  and  alTairs  which  is  one  of  the 
best  safeguards  against  abuse.  The  worst  abuses 
that  the  writer  has  ever  found  have  occurred  in 
small  almshouses  hidden  away  in  remote  corners, 
inaccessible,  neglected,  forgotten.  "The  dark 
places  of  the  earth  are  full  of  the  habitations  of 
cruelty."* 

*  The  above  is  by  no  means  a  universal  criticism  of  small  country 
almshouses.  Some  of  the  most  homelike,  comfortable,  and  excellent 
almshouses  which  the  writer  has  ever  inspected  have  been  compara- 
tively small  farmhouses,  far  from  the  main  traveled  roads;  but  these 
are  the  exceptions. 

8 


LOCATION   AND   CAPACITY 

Another  most  important  reason  for  a  country 
location  is  the  possibiHty  of  raising  a  large  part  of 
the  food  supply  for  the  institution  upon  its  own 
land.  The  question  of  institution  farming  is  one 
upon  which  difference  of  opinion  exists.  It  has 
been  claimed  that  people  who  are  able  to  work 
upon  a  farm  do  not  properly  belong  in  an  institu- 
tion, and  that  therefore  the  work  must  be  done  by 
hired  labor;  that  it  is  not  likely  that  a  superinten- 
dent can  properly  manage  the  institution  and  at 
the  same  time  make  a  large  farm  profitable. 

The  arguments  in  favor  of  a  farm  and  garden  as 
an  adjunct  of  an  institution  are,  however,  very 
strong.  No  matter  how  careful  the  management, 
there  will  inevitably  be  more  or  less  waste  from  the 
kitchen  and  dining  rooms,  and  this  can  be  profit- 
ably disposed  of  only  by  feeding  it  to  domestic 
animals.  Then  the  final  purchase  price  of  all 
kinds  of  farm  produce  is  made  up  so  largely  of  the 
costs  of  transportation  and  selling,  that  even  if  the 
farm  is  not  conducted  as  successfully  as  others  near 
it,  the  fact  of  a  home  market,  at  the  highest  market 
prices,  for  all  that  it  produces,  more  than  makes  up 
the  difference. 

It  should  be  remembered  also  that  there  are 
certain  cheap  and  healthful  articles  of  food,  such 
as  fresh  fruit,  eggs,  and  the  choicer  vegetables, 
which  from  motives  of  economy  are  seldom  or 
never  purchased  in  sufficient  quantity  for  the  in- 
mates of  an  almshouse,  but  which  may,  if  raised  on 
the  premises,  be  served  freely  and  often. 

9 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

Again,  for  many  classes  of  people  who  are 
capable  of  a  certain  amount  of  labor  although  they 
are  not  able  to  be  self-supporting,  an  outdoor 
occupation  is  essential  to  health.  Such  occupa- 
tion, suited  to  all  degrees  of  strength  and  intelli- 
gence, can  be  found  upon  a  farm  and  garden  in 
larger  measure  and  in  greater  variety,  than  any- 
where else. 

The  above  considerations,  namely,  the  profitable 
use  of  waste  material,  the  saving  of  transportation 
and  selling  charges  upon  large  quantities  of  bulky 
food-stuffs,  the  securing  at  a  cheap  cost  of  liberal 
supplies  of  milk,  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  the 
opportunities  of  healthful  labor,  all  point  to  the 
desirability  of  a  large  acreage  of  farm  and  garden 
land.  It  goes  without  saying  that  the  soil  for  the 
purpose  should  be  of  good  quality.  Although  a 
good  area  of  rough  land  may  be  a  very  profitable 
possession  in  connection  with  certain  institutions 
which,  like  those  for  the  feeble-minded  or  the 
epileptic,  have  a  large  available  supply  of  low 
grade  labor,  such  land  would,  as  a  rule,  be  of  little 
use  to  an  almshouse. 


CHOICE  OF  A  SITE 

In  choosing  a  site  for  a  county  almshouse, 
granting  that  this  should  be  located  in  the  country, 
certain  qualifications  are  essential ;  others  while  not 
strictly  essential  are  highly  desirable;  and  a  third 
class  of  qualifications  are  advantageous  and  should 

10 


LOCATION    AND   CAPACITY 

be  heeded  as  determining  factors.  There  are  three 
essentials;  namely,  accessibility,  water  supply,  and 
drainage.  The  first  of  these,  accessibility,  has  been 
already  treated  under  *' location." 

An  abundant  supply  of  pure  water  is  impera- 
tively necessary.  Whenever  possible  this  should 
be  a  local  one.  Although  in  the  case  of  an  institu- 
tion near  a  town,  the  water  supply  connected  with 
it  may  sometimes  be  tapped,  the  charge  for  this 
is  usually  high,  and  the  water  is  not  always 
perfectly  pure.  Undoubtedly  deep  driven  wells 
are  the  most  trustworthy,  both  for  purity  and 
steady  supply.  It  is  rarely  that  springs  are  found 
with  sufficient  capacity  for  the  number  of  people  to 
be  supplied,  and  they  are  often  in  danger  of  con- 
tamination from  surface  drainage.  The  quantity 
necessary  for  all  purposes  may  be  taken  as  approxi- 
mately one  hundred  gallons  a  day  per  capita. 
This  is  an  ample  supply.  Institutions  have 
managed  to  exist  with  less  than  half  that  amount 
available ;  but  with  all  the  chances  of  long  continued 
droughts,  with  the  need  of  fire  protection,  the 
desirability  of  sprinkling  lawns,  etc.,  an  initial 
supply  of  one  hundred  gallons  is  the  lowest  amount 
that  should  be  considered  sufficient  in  choosing  a 
site.  The  available  supply  should  be  carefully 
determined  before  a  site  is  purchased,  the  water 
analyzed  by  a  competent  chemist  and  a  satisfactory 
degree  of  purity  assured.  Filtering  should  never 
be  depended  upon.  All  this  may  cost  money,  but 
it  is  the  only  safe  plan  to  adopt.     Guess-work  here 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

in  the  beginning  may  prove  to  be  very  costly  in 
the  end. 

The  third  essential  is  good  drainage,  either  nat- 
ural or  artificial.  This,  like  the  water  supply,  should 
be  carefully  studied  before  the  site  is  chosen,  and 
a  method  of  drainage,  including  the  final  disposal 
of  all  sewage,  be  determined  upon  from  the  outset. 
Whenever  possible  the  site  chosen  should  be  on 
gravel  or  sandy  soil,  either  of  which  aflfords  natural 
surface  drainage.  Only  when  there  are  overpowering 
reasons  for  the  choice  should  a  site  be  selected  upon 
which  artificial  drainage  is  necessary  for  health. 
If  this  must  be  resorted  to,  then  the  drainage 
system  should  be  installed  before  the  house  is 
built. 

"  The  conditions  which  may  be  regarded  as  highly 
desirable,  though  not  absolutely  essential,  are 
natural  fertility  of  land,  good  condition  of  soil  as 
the  result  of  proper  treatment  in  the  past,  and  suit- 
ability of  the  soil  for  growing  vegetables  and  fruit. 
Attention  to  these  conditions  too  often  occupies 
first  place  instead  of  second  in  the  minds  of  those 
charged  with  the  duty  of  locating  an  institution. 

There  is  a  final  matter  which  may  be  properly 
considered,  and  that  is,  the  scenic  beauty  of  the 
site.  Utilitarian  ideas  usually  relegate  such  a 
matter  to  the  background.  Yet,  as  between  two 
or  more  sites  off"ering  equal  advantages,  there  is 
no  reason  why  a  pleasant  view  should  not  be 
considered.  The  writer  has  seen  an  almshouse, 
located  on  sloping  ground  commanding  a  beautiful 

12 


LOCATION    AND   CAPACITY 

view  of  hill  and  river,  with  the  back  of  the  house 
turned  to  the  prospect  and  every  window  in  rooms 
occupied  by  the  inmates  facing  a  blank  wall  or  a 
barren  hillside.  He  has  also  seen  a  house  with 
moderate  or  even  poor  accommodation,  yet  with  a 
front  porch  from  which,  in  fine  weather,  a  charming 
view  of  an  open  valley  with  a  little  town  in  the 
distance  was  immensely  enjoyed  by  the  feeble  old 
people  who  made  up  its  population. 

Another  useful  thing  sometimes  found  on  a  site 
and  enhancing  its.  value  is  a  good  "wood-lot." 
Although  the  use  of  wood  for  fuel  is  a  thing  of 
the  past  in  most  parts  of  the  country,  there  are 
still  many  districts  where  some  wood  available  for 
part  of  the  heating  can  be  found.  The  wood-lot 
on  the  almshouse  farm  is  a  thing  of  both  use  and 
beauty.  A  grove  is  always  a  pleasant  sight  and 
it  is  valuable  for  recreation  purposes.  When  in 
addition  it  yields  wood  enough  for  the  cook  stove 
and  for  a  few  open-hearth  fires  in  the  living  rooms 
it  has  an  increased  value,  not  only  as  furnishing 
fuel,  but  as  providing  winter  occupation  for  some 
of  the  stronger  male  inmates  who  work  on  the 
farm  in  summer.  The  open  fire  is  probably  rare 
in  any  but  the  small  almshouses,  yet  there  are  few 
where  it  would  not  be  gladly  welcomed. 


SIZE  AND  CAPACITY 

The    capacity    of    the    almshouse    necessarily 
depends  upon  the  population  and  conditions  in  the 

13 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

city,  town,  or  county  which  it  serves,  and  also  on 
the  habits  and  customs  of  the  population. 

Unfortunately,  as  a  general  rule  the  number  of 
paupers  to  provide  for  varies  directly  with  the 
wealth  of  a  given  city  or  state.  In  a  given  state 
the  county  with  the  most  paupers  in  proportion 
to  the  whole  population  is  rarely,  or  never,  the 
county  with  the  least  wealth,  either  absolutely  or 
relatively  to  the  population.  This  is  no  place  to 
attempt  to  explain  the  seeming  anomaly  that 
wealth  and  poverty  increase  and  diminish  side  by 
side.  We  may  only  state  the  bald  fact  that  they 
at  least  seem  to  do  so. 

This  volume  deals  chiefly  with  almshouses  of 
moderate  size  with  a  capacity  of  from  twenty-five 
to  two  hundred  and  fifty  inmates.  To  this  class 
belong  at  least  half  of  the  almshouses  in  the 
United  States  today,  and  perhaps  50  per  cent  of 
the  remainder  are  smaller.*  The  management  of 
the  large  institution  with  thousands  of  inmates, 
therefore,  is  not  one  which  the  writer  is  here 
attempting  to  discuss,  and  fortunately,  care  of  a 
vast  number  of  paupers  in  one  place,  as  in  the 
institutions  in  New  York  City,  Philadelphia, 
Baltimore,  Boston,  Chicago,  and  a  few  other  cities, 
is  not  often  necessary. 

In  deciding  on  the  capacity  of  a  proposed  public 
building  in  most  parts  of  this  rapidly  growing 
country,  the  probable  increase  of  the  population 

*  See  Appendix  IV,  page  i6o,  giving  the  average  number  of  inmates 
in  the  almshouses  of  a  number  of  states. 

14 


LOCATION    AND   CAPACITY 

to  be  cared  for,  as  well  as  the  immediate  demands, 
should  be  considered.  If  the  best  plan  of  con- 
struction, the  cottage  system,  is  adopted,  it  is 
not  necessary  to  build  at  first  all  the  cottages  that 
will  some  day  be  needed.  As  will  be  pointed  out 
in  the  chapter  on  Classification,  additions  may  be 
cheaply  built  for  special  classes  at  a  subsequent 
period,  and  provided  that  the  main  administrative 
departments  are  ample,  no  loss  is  incurred  by 
beginning  with  a  capacity  for  a  smaller  number 
than  will  some  day  be  present.  On  the  other  hand, 
to  erect  a  building  with  halls,  dormitories,  and  day 
rooms  much  in  excess  of  present  requirements, 
causes  an  undue  expense,  not  only  in  the  initial 
outlay,  but  still  more  in  the  cost  of  conducting  the 
institution  until  the  time  comes,  if  it  ever  does, 
when  population  catches  up  with  capacity. 

The  best  plan,  therefore,  is  to  begin  with  room 
for  only  a  few  more  than  are  at  present  in  sight, 
and  provide  for  the  increase  as  fast  as,  or  a  little 
faster  than,  it  comes.  At  the  same  time,  the 
general  plan  on  which  the  various  buildings  are 
grouped  should  include  place  for  additions  when 
needed. 


15 


CHAPTER  III 
CONSTRUCTION 

BUILDING  PLANS 

IN  instructing  the  architect  who  is  to  draw 
the  plans  of  a  new  almshouse,  several  posi- 
tive requirements  should  be  made  from  the 
outset.  The  important  feature  is  not  the  fa- 
fade.  The  county  commissioners,  or  whoever 
may  be  the  governing  board,  are  not  about  to 
build  a  monument  to  themselves,  nor  to  the  archi- 
tect, nor  yet  a  show  place  for  the  county.  Their 
purpose  is  to  erect  a  comfortable,  substantial,  and 
economical  home  for  a  number  of  old  or  feeble 
persons.  The  excellence  of  the  floor  plan,  there- 
fore, is  of  more  importance  than  the  front  eleva- 
tion. 

The  essential  points  to  notice  are  classification, 
which  includes  complete  sex  separation;  abun- 
dance of  sunlight  and  fresh  air;  correct  proportion 
of  floor  space  to  the  various  uses;  convenience  of 
access  for  the  administration  to  every  part  of  the 
house;  and  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  all  the 
inmates. 

The  number  of  inmates  to  be  provided  for  at  the 
outset  being  decided,  the  proportionate  numbers 

16 


CONSTRUCTION 

of  single  bedrooms  and  dormitories  and  the  floor 
space  which  they  require  can  be  set  down.  Then 
the  floor  space  of  the  dining  rooms  and  day  rooms 
should  be  established  in  due  proportion,  the  space 
to  be  occupied  by  the  kitchens  and  other  domestic 
offices,  and  that  needed  for  the  administration  and 
the  rooms  for  employes.  All  these  matters  should 
be  agreed  upon  before  a  line  is  drawn. 

The  general  arrangement  shown  in  several  of 
the  plans  given  in  this  book*  has  been  evolved 
in  the  course  of  the  past  forty  or  fifty  years, — 
an  arrangement  which  through  usage  has  become 
wellnigh  standardized.  It  is  based  on  the  princi- 
ples of  convenient  management,  and  sex  separation. 
It  consists  of  a  central  building  for  the  administra- 
tion department,  with  dining  rooms,  kitchens, 
and  other  offices  in  the  "rear  center,"  as  it  is 
called,  and  two  wings,  one  for  men  and  one  for 
women.  Occasionally,  for  very  small  institutions, 
there  is  only  one  dining  room  and  one  infirmary  or 
hospital  department,  but  usually  every  feature  is 
in  duplicate,  the  dining  room  being  divided  into 
two  rooms,  so  that  the  only  place  in  which  the 
male  and  female  inmates  meet  is  the  chapel  or 
assembly  hall. 

No  public  institution  for  defectives,  feeble  old 
people,  or  children  should  ever  be  more  than  two 
stories  in  height.  One  partial  exception  to  this 
rule  is  that  the  "front  center,"  or  administration 
department,  may  be  three  stories,  the  third  to  be 

*See  pages  20-21,  32-33,  and  128-129. 


CONSTRUCTION 

used  for  the  bedrooms  of  employes.  The  alleged 
economy  of  higher  buildings  is  deceptive.  While  a 
given  amount  of  floor  space  can  be  most  cheaply 
provided  in  a  three-  or  four-story  house,  there  are 
many  advantages  in  two-story  construction  which 
are  sufficiently  strong  to  cause  one  to  reject  the 
higher  building.  Among  these  are  accessibility 
to  the  outdoors,  the  reduction  of  labor  in  both 
operation  and  oversight,  and  the  fact  that  abso- 
lutely fire-proof  construction,  with  its  great  cost, 
is  not  so  necessary. 

A  frequent  error  in  construction  is  that  of  dis- 
proportionate space  between  the  rooms  used  for 
different  purposes.  The  writer  has  seen  a  county 
almshouse  containing  two  hundred  beds,  in  which 
the  two  dining  rooms  were  overcrowded  with  fifty 
inmates  in  each.  It  is  especially  necessary  in 
planning  buildings  for  the  care  of  feeble  and  old 
people  that  the  right  proportions  shall  exist  in 
the  original  plan.  A  simple  formula  which  may 
be  taken  as  fairly  accurate  for  dining  room,  day 
room,  and  bedroom  floor  space  is  i  to  2  to  4;  that 
is,  twice  the  floor  space  of  the  dining  room  for  the 
day  room  and  twice  that  of  the  day-room  floor  for 
the  dormitories.  With  ceilings  10  feet  high,  60 
square  feet  of  floor  will  give  the  dormitories  600 
cubic  feet  per  inmate,  30  square  feet  for  day  rooms 
will  give  300,  and  1 5  square  feet  for  dining  rooms 
will  give  1 50.  These  proportions,  along  with  good 
ventilation,  will  be  found  satisfactory.  It  cannot 
be  denied  that  there  are  many  institutions  with  a 

19. 


20 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

considerably  smaller  amount  of  floor  space  per  in- 
mate than  is  suggested  above,  which  are  fairly 
satisfactory.  But  when  we  consider  the  diificulty 
of  securing  good  ventilation,  the  frequent  tendency 
to  overcrowding,  and  the  prevalence  of  other 
unfavorable  conditions,  it  is  well  to  begin  with  such 
a  standard  as  is  here  set  forth. 

Many  almshouses  are  so  faultily  planned  as  to 
compel  the  inmates  to  use  the  same  rooms  for  both 
sleeping  and  living,  so  that  it  is  impossible  properly 
to  air  rooms  or  bedding  without  exposing  the 
inmates  to  drafts.  Occasionally  one  even  finds 
meals  being  served  in  rooms  which  the  inmates 
occupy  both  by  day  and  night.  Dormitories 
should  be  used  for  the  one  purpose  only. 

If  the  location  is  favorable  the  front  of  the  insti- 
tution should  be  to  the  north,  since  the  rooms  which 
most  need  sunlight  are  usually  placed  at  the  rear 
of  the  house.  In  that  case  there  is  a  natural  four- 
fold division  into  the  front  center,  the  rear  center, 
the  east  wing  and  the  west  wing. 

If  the  cottage  plan*  is  adopted  the  division  is 
three-fold :  first,  the  administration  building,  which 
contains  the  front  and  rear  centers;  second,  the 
cottages  for  men;  and  third,  those  for  women. 
The  cottage  plan  is  advisable  for  a  population  of 
one  hundred  or  more,  notwithstanding  the  fact 

*  See  Appendix  XVII,  page  239.  Plans  shown  on  pages  20,  32, 
and  96,  are  for  almshouses  with  a  capacity  for  thirty-eight,  sixty,  and 
two  hundred  and  sixty  inmates,  respectively.  The  two  smaller  are 
of  the  congregate  type,  the  larger  shows  a  group  of  cottages  con- 
nected by  covered  corridors. 

22 


CONSTRUCTION 

that  [it  is  somewhat  more  expensive.  However, 
connecting  covered  corridors  between  the  buildings 
are  not  necessary,  even  in  the  North.* 

Institutional  life  cannot  be  made  homelike,  yet 
the  more  plain  and  simple  the  arrangements,  the 
nearer  is  the  approach  to  homelikeness.  "  Palaces 
for  paupers,''  as  some  great  almshouses  have  been 
called,  are  not  a  source  of  happiness  to  their 
inmates.  The  common  people  prefer  to  live  with 
their  feet  near  the  ground. 


DIVISIONS  OF  THE  HOUSE 

The  Front  Center.  This  usually  contains  the 
main  office  of  the  institution,  a  reception  room, 
rooms  for  the  use  of  the  superintendent  and  his 
family,  and  rooms  for  some  of  the  employes. 

The  office  should  be  commodious  enough  for  the 
work  of  the  institution  and  it  and  the  reception 
room,  with  the  entrance  hall,  should  occupy  the 
front  of  the  first  floor  of  the  administration 
building. 

The  superintendent's  quarters  should  be  com- 

*  Visiting  the  Toledo,  Ohio,  Hospital  for  Insane,  a  large  institution 
on  the  cottage  plan,  the  writer,  in  conversation  with  an  old  lady,  one 
of  the  inmates,  expressed  regret  that,  as  the  weather  was  bad,  she 
might  be  inconvenienced  by  having  to  walk  across  to  the  central 
dining  hall  for  dinner.  She  replied,  "Oh,  we  don't  mind  that,  and 
then  you  know  if  we  didn't  have  to  go  out  to  the  dining  hall,  we  would 
never  get  out  of  the  house  at  all  in  bad  weather."  Reporting  her 
conversation  to  Dr.  Tobey,  the  superintendent,  who  had  had  long 
experience  in  hospital  work,  he  said  that  when  he  took  charge  he  felt 
that  at  any  cost,  connecting  corridors  must  be  built,  but  that  after 
a  few  months'  experience  he  changed  his  mind  and  would  not 
think  of  asking  for  them,  as  they  were  quite  needless. 

23 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

fortable  and  sufficient ;  a  public  official  housed  in  a 
public  building  is  entitled  to  decent  accommoda- 
tion and  a  reasonable  amount  of  privacy.  The 
apartments  should  include  a  sitting  room,  or 
parlor,  at  least  three  bedrooms  with  bathroom 
adjoining,  a  dining  room,  and  a  kitchen.  There 
should  be  lavatories  and  toilets  on  each  floor.  The 
private  dining  room  and  kitchen  for  the  superin- 
tendent and  his  family  are  often  omitted,  but  this 
is  a  serious  mistake.  While  the  bearing  of  the 
superintendent  to  his  subordinates  and  the 
inmates  should  be  of  the  utmost  friendliness,  he 
must  avoid  familiarity,  hence  in  his  hours  of 
relaxation  and  ease  he  should  have  his  own  private 
apartments. 

The  Rear  Center.  Here,  on  the  first  floor, 
are  found  the  dining  rooms  for  the  inmates  and, 
in  a  large  institution,  a  separate  dining  room  for 
employes,  the  kitchens,  scullery,  pantry,  and  store 
room.  Sometimes  also  the  clothing  room  can 
be  placed  here.  The  second  floor  is  used  for 
the  bedrooms  of  employes  and  sometimes  for  a 
large  dormitory;  occasionally,  in  the  larger  in- 
stitutions, for  a  chapel  or  assembly  room.  Sev- 
eral of  the  plans  shown  in  this  book  give 
a  good  general  idea  of  the  arrangements, 
which  vary  indefinitely  with  the  size  of  the 
institution. 

The  dining  rooms  should  be  well  lighted;  the 
scullery  is  most  conveniently  placed  between  the 
kitchen   and   the  dining  room.     The  kitchen  is 

24 


CONSTRUCTION 

often  of  one  story  with  a  monitor  roof  affording 
ventilation  through  windows  in  the  monitor.  If 
not  so  built,  careful  thought  should  be  given  to  the 
ventilation,  so  that  the  odors  of  cooking  may  not 
be  carried  through  the  house. 

The  Men's  and  Women's  Wings.  The  first 
floor  of  the  wings,  or  cottages,  should  be  given  to 
day  rooms,  a  few  small  single  bedrooms  for  feeble 
inmates,  the  clothing  rooms,  and  the  infirmary 
wards. 

The  second  floor  should  be  used  for  dormitories 
with  lavatories  adjoining.  In  some  cases  it  is 
necessary  to  put  the  infirmary  wards  on  the  second 
floor,  and  sometimes  these  are  placed  on  the  second 
floor  of  the  rear  center.  In  any  case,  they  should 
be  placed  so  that  they  can  be  easily  reached  from 
the  central  part  of  the  house,  and  where  they 
may  have  good  air  and  plenty  of  sunshine. 

The  Infirmary  Department  or  Hospital. 
An  almshouse  should  have  beds-  enough  in  its 
infirmary  department  for  from  lo  to  12  per  cent  of 
its  inmates.  This  does  not  mean  that  there  will 
usually,  or  frequently,  be  so  many  sick  at  any  one 
time,  but  that  it  should  be  possible  to  give  proper 
care  to  that  number.  It  follows  that  for  an  insti- 
tution of  two  hundred  or  more  inmates  the  hospital 
should  be  in  a  separate  building,  and  even  for  a 
population  of  one  hundred,  a  small  detached 
infirmary  cottage  is  advantageous. 

Plans  for  hospital  buildings  have  been  elabo- 
rately worked  out  and  every  architect  has  them,  or 

25 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

knows  where  they  can  be  had.  1 1  is  only  necessary 
to  add  here  that  all  that  has  been  said  about  venti- 
lation, convenience  of  toilets  and  water  supply, 
and  general  sanitation,  applies  with  special  force 
to  the  construction  of  a  hospital.* 

In  the  smaller  almshouses,  the  infirmaries,  or 
sick  wards,  should  be  situated  in  the  wings  on  the 
women's  and  men's  sides  respectively,  preferably 
on  the  first  floor.  But,  whether  located  on  the 
first  floor  or  upstairs,  the  sick  room  should  have 
the  best  air  and  pleasantest  aspect  in  the  house. 
The  advantage  of  the  first  floor  location  is  nearness 
to  the  working  parts  of  the  house,  so  that  it  is 
comparatively  easy  to  wait  on  those  who  do  not 
require  constant  care  but  need  occasional  atten- 
tion, and  who  are  in  danger  of  suffering  if  not 
seen  frequently.  For  any  but  the  smallest  institu- 
tions, infirmaries  should  be  subdivided  into  a  large 
ward,  which  may  hold  from  four  to  ten  beds,  and  a 
small  adjoining  room  suitable  for  a  single  patient. 
The  small  room  should  have  its  own  doorway  into 
the  hall.  This  arrangement  is  very  convenient  in 
the  event  of  a  single  case  of  contagious  disease. 
Prompt  isolation  may  avert  a  troublesome  and 
dangerous  epidemic. 

Proximity  of  the  sick  room  to  water  supply, 
bathroom,  and  toilet  is  important.  It  should 
never  be  necessary  to  carry  waste  water  a  long 

*  See  Proceedings  of  the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and 
Correction  for  1888,  p.  171,  for  a  valuable  paper  on  the  Municipal 
Hospital,  describing  construction,  etc.,  by  Dr.  Ancker,  of  St.  Paul, 
Minn. 

26 


CONSTRUCTION 

distance.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  not  a  good 
plan  to  have  sinks  and  stationary  washstands  in 
the  room  itself. 

Porches  or  Verandahs.  These  may  be  made 
to  add  to  the  attractive  appearance  of  the  house, 
while  they  are  a  pleasant  and  even  necessary 
addition  to  its  accommodations.  If  the  infirmary 
department  is  on  the  second  floor,  it  is  well  to  have 
the  verandah  on  that  part  of  the  house  two  stories 
high,  so  as  to  afford  a  convenient  and  accessible 
place  for  the  convalescents  to  enjoy  the  fresh  air. 

If,  as  usually  happens,  there  are  consumptives  to 
provide  for,  the  verandah  of  the  infirmary  may  be 
fitted  up  as  sleeping  quarters  for  them.  This  does 
not  mean  that  it  is  to  be  screened  in  by  glass  win- 
dows. All  that  is  necessary  is  sufficient  protection 
for  the  beds  from  rain  and  hard  winds,  and  this 
can  be  secured  by  a  wide  roof  and  side  boards  a 
little  higher  than  the  head  of  the  beds. 

Dormitories  Versus  Single  Bedrooms.  For 
cleanliness,  ventilation,  economy  of  first  cost,  ease 
of  supervision  and  other  reasons,  dormitories  con- 
taining four,  six,  twelve,  or  even  more  beds  are 
so  far  preferable  to  small  single  bedrooms  that 
they  should  be  used  as  far  as  practicable.  For 
certain  of  the  older  inmates  and  some  others  who 
will  be  mentioned  in  the  chapter  on  classification, 
single  bedrooms  should  be  provided,  so  that  the 
ideal  plan  is  one  including  dormitories  and  bed- 
rooms in  due  proportion.  In  large  dormitories 
it  is  practicable  to  screen  the  beds,  when  necessary, 

27 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the  effect  of  privacy.  If 
the  screens  are  light  and  easily  moved  they  inter- 
fere but  little  with  the  advantages  which  accrue 
from  the  dormitory  plan. 

The  due  proportion  between  dormitory  beds  and 
single  room  beds  will  vary  in  every  institution  with 
the  character  of  the  inmates  and  the  ability  of  the 
management.  A  fair  estimate,  based  on  the  writer's 
experience  in  the  inspection  of  almshouses  in 
only  one  state,  is  that  from  one-fourth  to  one-third 
of  the  inmates  should  be  given  single  rooms,  a  few 
of  the  rooms  being  made  larger  than  the  rest  so  as 
to  accommodate  old  married  couples  who  may 
wish  to  be  together  in  one  double  bed.*  The 
remaining  two-thirds  or  three-fourths  of  the  popu- 
lation may  then  be  accommodated  in  dormitories 
of  various  sizes,  each  containing  from  four  to  as 
many  as  twenty  beds,  the  variation  being,  again, 
in  accordance  with  the  character  of  the  inmates 
to  be  lodged. 

The  Lavatories.  The  lavatory  or  toilet  room 
for  each  dormitory  should  always  be  conveniently 
accessible.  It  should  never  be  in  the  same  room 
but  should  adjoin  it  on  the  same  floor,  and  should 
contain  toilets,  wash  basins,  and  bathtubs  or 
shower  baths  proportionate  to  the  number  of  beds 
in  the  dormitory.  If  no  other  inmates  use  the 
same  set  of  fixtures,  a  dormitory  with  sixteen  beds 
should  have  a  lavatory  adjoining  it  with  at  least 

*  This  plan  should  not  be  obligatory;  it  is  frequently  the  case  that 
old  couples  prefer  to  separate. 

28 


CONSTRUCTION 

four  wash  basins,  two  baths  and  two  water 
closets.  If  the  number  using  the  same  room  is 
doubled,  the  number  of  fixtures  should  be  in- 
creased 50  per  cent.  In  all  cases  the  bathtubs  and 
the  toilets  should  be  separately  screened. 

A  great  deal  of  time  in  the  use  of  the  bathtubs 
can  be  saved  by  using  large  faucets.  A  faucet 
with  a  \}i  inch  opening  will  fill  a  bathtub  in  about 
one-fourth  the  time  that  is  taken  by  one  of  the 
usual  ^  inch  size.  Similarly  with  the  discharge 
pipe;  this  should  be  i^  or  2  inches  gauge.  The 
difference  of  time  is  so  marked  as  to  materially 
increase  the  bathing  capacity  of  a  set  of  tubs. 
Three  tubs  with  the  large  faucets  and  discharges 
will  accommodate  as  many  bathers,  allowing  the 
usual  ten  minutes'  actual  bathing  time  to  each, 
as  four  tubs  with  the  small  faucets.  The  slight 
extra  cost  of  the  larger  faucets  may  be  saved 
many  times  over  in  the  first  installation,  while 
the  temptation  to  the  unsanitary  practice  of 
bathing  several  persons  in  the  same  water  is  much 
lessened. 

Laundry.  Whenever  practicable  the  laundry 
should  be  in  a  detached  building  one  story  high, 
with  a  monitor  roof  allowing  for  ventilation  through 
the  windows  in  the  monitor. 

As  a  general  proposition  in  institution  economy, 
the  question  as  to  whether  machinery  shall  or  shall 
not  be  installed  in  any  given  department  largely 
depends  upon  the  character  of  the  inmates  and 
the  inventiveness  of  the  superintendent  in   the 

29 


30 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

Utilization  of  their  labor.  But  for  any  number  of 
inmates  over  forty  it  is  economical  to  install  some 
machinery,  at  least  one  steam  washer  and  a  centri- 
fugal wringer,  and  when  there  are  a  hundred 
inmates  or  more,  steam  dry  rooms  are  essential. 
Small  gas  or  gasoline  engines,  of  simpleconstruction 
to  give  the  necessary  power,  can  now  be  had  at 
moderate  cost.  Every  ironing  room  should  be 
equipped  with  a  special  stove  for  heating  irons. 
Stoves  of  this  kind  are  now  manufactured  which 
save  fuel,  and  'also  prevent  the  room's  being  unduly 
heated  in  summer,  as  is  the  case  when  ordinary 
cook  stoves  are  used  for  heating  irons.  Whenever 
gas,  either  artificial  or  natural,  is  available,  that 
should  be  used.  In  a  large  institution  equipped 
with  electric  power  from  its  own  plant  and  having 
surplus  power  during  daylight,  irons  heated  with 
electricity  can  sometimes  be  used. 

There  is  no  better  place  to  use  the  rain-water 
collected  from  the  roofs  than  in  the  laundry.  If 
proper  care  is  taken,  in  most  parts  of  the  country 
during  most  of  the  year  rain  will  give  a  sufficient 
supply.  A  little  expense  in  connecting  the  soft 
water  cisterns  with  the  laundry  may  often  be 
profitably  incurred.  If,  however,  it  is  necessary 
to  use  hard  water  for  laundry  purposes,  some 
method  of  softening  it  before  it  is  put  into  the  tubs 
is  desirable,  otherwise  the  cost  of  the  excessive 
quantity  of  soap  needed  is  a  serious  item.  The 
question  of  laundry  soap  is  an  important  one. 
Institutions  can  profitably  make  their  own  soft 

31 


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CONSTRUCTION 

soap,  provided  that  in  doing  it  they  use  up  refuse 
grease  which  otherwise  would  be  wasted  or  sold  at 
a  low  price;  when  they  must  buy  all  the  materials 
the  profit  is  doubtful. 

Chapel  or  Hall.  Religious  Services.  In  any 
almshouse  where  the  population  is  too  large  to  be 
gathered  together,  temporarily,  in  one  of  the  sitting 
rooms,  an  assembly  hall  or  chapel  is  necessary. 
A  good  place  for  this  is  a  second  story  over  the 
dining  rooms.  At  one  side  of  the  hall  a  recess 
should  be  made  in  the  wall  which  could  be  screened 
off  by  a  curtain  where  the  Roman  Catholics  should 
be  invited  to  erect  an  altar.  At  another  side  a 
small  platform  should  be  built  with  a  reading  desk 
or  table  for  the  use  of  Protestant  clergymen.  In 
this  hall  religious  services  should  be  held  every 
Sunday,  which  the  ministers  of  the  different 
denominations  should  be  invited  to  conduct,  and 
which  should  include  a  Catholic  service  at  least 
once  a  month,  or  as  much  oftener  as  a  priest  can 
be  obtained.  Attendance  should  be  optional  with 
the  inmates  but  they  should  always  be  encouraged 
to  attend  by  the  example  of  the  superintendent  and 
some,  at  least,  of  the  employes. 

If  the  almshouse  is  near  a  town  ministers  can 
usually  be  persuaded  to  come,  especially  if  the 
superintendent,  having  first  secured  an  invitation, 
will  attend  the  ministers'  meeting  some  Monday 
morning  and  prefer  his  request.  If  the  almshouse 
is  situated  a  mile  or  more  in  the  country,  a  con- 
veyance from   the   institution   should   fetch   the 

35 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

minister  and  take  him  back.  The  service,  of 
course,  should  be  held  in  the  afternoon  at  a  time 
to  suit  the  convenience  of  the  ministers  or  other 
speakers.  If  these  conditions  are  met  some  city 
priests  or  ministers  or  some  competent  laymen  can 
usually  be  secured  to  take  turns  in  coming  regularly. 

In  addition  to  its  use  for  religious  services  the 
hall  can  properly  be  used  for  the  evening  enter- 
tainments spoken  of  in  the  section  on  Entertain- 
ments and  Amusements.* 

The  ideal  chapel  would  be  a  detached  building 
of  pleasing  architecture,  in  the  grounds,  so  con- 
structed that  the  inmates  could  reach  their  seats 
without  climbing  stairs  and  to  which  they  might 
be  summoned  by  the  tolling  of  a  bell.  This  is 
perhaps  only  possible  in  the  case  of  a  large  institu- 
tion of,  say,  two  hundred  and  fifty  or  more  inmates. 


BUILDING  MATERIAL 

In  some  states  frame  buildings  for  almshouses 
are  held  to  be  in  every  way  satisfactory,  it  being 
claimed  that  they  are  as  durable  and  safe  as  those 
of  brick,  and  cheaper  to  build.  In  the  West  and 
Middle  West,  however,  any  but  a  brick,  stone,  or 
cement  building  is  considered  a  cheap  temporary 
makeshift,  to  be  done  away  with  as  soon  as  possible. 

Inside  brick  fmish  is  often  recommended  for 
almshouse  walls,  and  it  has,  no  doubt,  certain 
great  advantages.     When  painted  it  is  quite  easily 

*SeeChapterIX,  p.  136. 

36 


CONSTRUCTION 

kept  clean  and  it  obviates  the  need  of  much  of  the 
usual  inside  wood  trimming.  It  is,  however,  not 
much  cheaper,  if  any,  than  a  wall  which  is  lathed 
and  plastered  on  the  inside,  since  the  cost  of  laying 
bricks  with  struck  joints,  accurately  pointed  on 
both  sides,  is  very  much  greater  than  that  of  the 
usual  wall,  pointed  on  one  side  only.  Besides 
this,  the  appearance  of  the  inside  bricks  is  not 
pleasing,  and  it  is  difficult  to  make  the  box  frames 
for  windows  and  doors  fit  exactly,  or  to  make  the 
quarter  rounds  used  on  the  sides  tight  enough  to 
exclude  air.  Unless  the  brick  wall  is  built  hollow 
with  an  inside  air  chamber,  it  is  colder  than  one 
built  with  the  usual  lath  and  plaster  finish,  and  it  is 
impossible  to  avoid  the  condensation  of  the  at- 
mospheric moisture,  commonly  called  "sweating,'' 
on  the  outer-wall  side  of  the  rooms.  The  best 
wall  for  all  purposes  is  one  with  a  hard-plaster 
inside  finish,  either  spread  directly  on  the  bricks, 
in  which  case  the  outside  walls  must  be  built  with 
an  air  space  in  the  middle,  or  upon  metal  laths 
attached  to  furring  strips  laid  in  the  brick.  If  the 
latter  plan  is  adopted  and  the  work  is  well  done, 
there  is  little  danger  of  unsightly  cracks.* 

Foundation  walls  should  be  of  stone,  or  if  brick, 
a  full  course  of  stone  or  a  layer  of  slate  should  be 
used  above  the  surface  of  the  ground  to  prevent 
dampness  in  the  upper  wall.     Roofs  should  be  of 

*  The  writer's  objection  to  inside  brick  finish  is  based  upon  over 
ten  years'  experience  as  superintendent  of  an  institution  wherein  this 
finish  was  used. 

37 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

slate,  tile,  or  clay-shingles,  slate  being  preferable, 
and  probably  the  best  and  permanently  the  least 
costly  material  nearly  everywhere.  Modern  metal 
roofs  are  a  cheap,  temporary  device  and  should 
never  be  used.  The  lead  or  sheet  copper  roofs 
of  former  days  were  something  quite  different. 
Gutters  and  down  spouts  leading  to  good  cisterns 
should  catch  and  save  all  the  rain-water.  The 
best  gutter  is  one  laid  in  the  slate;  hanging  gut- 
ters are  frequently  a  cause  of  trouble,  especially 
in  winter. 

It  is  desirable  in  planning  an  almshouse  to  use 
standard  sizes  for  mill-work,  doors,  windows,  etc. 
Especially  should  windows  be  standard,  and  in  as 
few  different  sizes  as  possible  so  that  glass  for 
repairs  may  be  bought  by  the  box  instead  of  a 
few  panes  at  a  time  and  at  a  much  higher  pro- 
portionate cost.* 

Floors.  The  best  material  for  the  floors  of 
halls  and  dining  rooms  is  certainly  good  hard  tile. 
For  kitchens  and  domestic  offices  generally,  where 
the  wear  is  harder,  and  for  lavatories  where  there 
is  likely  to  be  much  splashing  of  water  on  the 
floors,  good,  well-laid  and  well-trowelled  cement 
is  probably  the  best  material;  while  for  day  rooms 
and  dormitories  hard  maple  flooring  is  by  far  the 
best  available.  Hard  yellow  pine  may  be  used, 
although  it  is  not  nearly  so  good  as  maple  and 

*  At  a  recent  state  conference  in  Pennsylvania,  Dr.  A.  J.  Somers, 
Jr.,  of  Blair  County,  told  of  an  institution  which  had  eighteen  differ- 
ent sizes  of  glass  in  its  windows,  and  not  one  of  them  a  standard  size. 

38 


CONSTRUCTION 

is  usually  only  a  trifle,  if  any,  cheaper.  Soft  pine 
floors  are  not  suitable  to  public  institutions,  being 
fit  for  use  only  when  covered  with  carpets,  and 
carpets  should  not  be  used  even  in  the  private 
rooms  of  the  officers  or  employes.  Where  the 
floors  must  be  covered,  only  rugs  that  can  easily 
be  lifted  and  shaken  should  be  permitted. 

Maple  flooring  should  be  narrow  faced,  thor- 
oughly dry,  closely  laid.  The  bottom  of  the  base- 
board into  which  the  flooring  should  fit,  should  be 
a  cove,  making  perfectly  clean  sweeping  easy. 
Maple  floors,  however,  must  not  be  scrubbed,  as 
they  rapidly  decay  if  not  kept  perfectly  dry.  The 
best  as  well  as  the  most  sanitary  treatment  of 
hard-wood  floors  is  by  the  use  of  paraflfin  and 
linseed  oil  in  the  proportion  of  one  pound  of 
paraffin  to  one  gallon  of  oil.  To  apply  this  dress- 
ing, the  floor  must  be  quite  clean  and  perfectly  dry, 
the  paraffin  and  oil  heated  and  put  on  with  a 
brush,  then  rubbed  down  quickly  before  it  chills. 
A  preliminary  coat  of  hot  oil,  well  rubbed  in  and 
allowed  to  dry,  may  be  used  with  advantage. 
The  floor  so  treated  must  be  lightly  paraffined  and 
polished  daily  after  sweeping.*  The  work  is  quite 
simple,  takes  very  little  time,  and  can  be  done  by 
inmates  of  the  lowest  mental  capacity. 

*  Floor  polishers  may  be  made  of  a  block  of  wood  about  24  inches 
by  4  by  6-— covered  on  the  face  with  any  kind  of  soft  material,  such 
as  old  wornout  blankets,  etc.  The  handle  should  be  about  4^  feet 
long,  attached  by  means  of  hinges  to  the  block,  so  that  the  latter  can 
rest  flat  upon  the  floor.  Any  man  handy  with  tools  can  make  such  a 
polisher  in  a  few  minutes.  It  is  far  preferable  to  the  brush  some- 
times sold  for  the  purpose. 

39 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

If  the  floor  treated  as  above  described  becomes 
foul  and  needs  other  cleansing  than  the  daily 
sweeping  and  polishing,  as  will  occur  perhaps  once 
or  twice  a  year,  it  should  be  scrubbed  with  strong 
lye  until  a  new,  clean  surface  of  wood  is  obtained; 
then  the  treatment  as  above  described  renewed. 
Floors  so  treated  are  sanitary,  present  a  good 
appearance,  and  are  entirely  free  from  the  un- 
wholesome "institution  odor''  which  scrubbed 
floors  always  or  nearly  always  give  out,  coming 
more  than  anything  else  from  soapy  water  which 
soaks  into  the  cracks  and  cannot  be  dried  out. 
The  surface  of  a  scrubbed  floor  may  appear  ex- 
quisitely clean,  but  the  filth  lurks  in  the  cracks 
and  cannot  be  kept  out  of  them.  Filth,  according 
to  our  modern  ideas,  means  germs,  and  germs  mean 
disease.  The  well  polished  floor  is  approximately 
germ  proof. 


HEATING 

Some  central  system  of  heating  is  almost  essen- 
tial for  an  almshouse.  The  best  system  is  without 
doubt  by  means  of  hot  water,  which  has  several 
advantages  over  steam.  With  hot  water  it  is 
possible  to  heat  the  building  moderately  at  the 
approach  of  cold  weather.  The  heat  is  better 
diffused,  the  radiators  never  get  hot  enough  to 
inflict  serious  accidental  burns,  and  if  the  fire  is 
allowed  to  go  out,  hot  water  pipes  keep  warm  a 
great  deal  longer  than  steam  pipes  do.     On  the 

40 


CONSTRUCTION 

Other  hand,  steam  radiators  get  hot  more  quickly 
than  water  pipes.  In  operation,  steam  is  about  as 
cheap,  and  it  is  decidedly  cheaper  at  first  installa- 
tion because  smaller  pipes  and  less  radiation  are 
needed.  If  steam  heat  is  used  it  should  by  all 
means  be  on  a  low  pressure  system.  For  a  large 
institution  the  vacuum  steam  system  is  very 
economical.  By  this  method  all  exhaust  steam 
from  machinery,  steam  kettles,  etc.  can  be  carried, 
below  atmospheric  pressure,  to  any  distance,  and 
the  entire  heating  value  of  the  steam  be  realized. 

Heating  by  means  of  hot  air  from  a  furnace  in 
the  basement  is  often  used  in  moderate  sized 
buildings.  This  method,  however,  is  not  well 
suited  to  an  almshouse  and  is  only  one  remove 
better  than  stoves.  If  the  system  is  properly 
installed  and  the  furnace  room  kept  scrupulously 
clean  with  a  proper  draft  of  outside  air  to  the 
hot-air  pipes,  the  plan  does  give  good,  fresh, 
warmed  air  in  severe  cold  weather.  The  most 
frequent  trouble  with  furnace  heat  comes  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  warm  a 
house  uniformly.  Varying  with  the  wind,  the 
sides  of  the  house  will  be  unequally  warmed, 
while  the  heat  will  go  most  freely  to  the  part 
where  it  is  least  needed,  the  dormitories.  They 
will  be  too  hot,  while  the  rooms  on  the  first  floor 
are  too  cold. 

Steam  radiators  must  be  protected  by  wire 
screens,  or  made  safe  in  some  other  way,  in  all 
rooms  where  defectives  are  present.     Some  very 

41 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

serious  accidents  to  epileptics  and  insane  people 
have  occurred  through  their  coming  in  contact 
with  uncovered  steam  pipes  or  radiators.  All 
steam  or  hot  water  pipes  should  have  some  good 
heat-proof  covering.  This  is  a  most  necessary  aid 
to  economy.  Steam-pipe  covering  is  expensive 
and  its  application  is  sometimes  deferred  owing 
to  this  fact.  When  pipes  must  be  left  uncovered 
because  of  lack  of  money  with  which  to  buy 
the  regular  material,  a  temporary  and  effective 
substitute  may  be  used.  Corrugated  paper,  which 
is  very  cheap  and  almost  non-inflammable,  may 
be  wrapped  loosely  around  the  pipes  and  held 
in  its  place  by  string.  While  this  is  not  as  good 
as  the  regular  covering  and  should  only  be  used 
in  a  temporary  emergency,  pipes  so  protected  are 
very  much  better  than  bare  pipes.* 

In  the  sitting  rooms  an  open  grate  fire  is  a 
pleasant  addition  to  comfort  and  adds  a  homelike 
touch  to  the  appearance  of  the  rooms  that  nothing 
else  can  give.  This  is  especially  true  in  the  case 
of  a  house  in  the  country,  and  can  usually  be 
afforded  by  one  that  possesses  a  wood-lot. t  In 
some  climates  the  open  fire  is  all  the  heat  neces- 
sary, but  in  most  parts  of  the  country  it  must  be 
regarded  only  as  a  pleasant  addition,  or  perhaps  as 

*  On  a  visit  to  Tewksbury,  the  State  Almshouse  of  Massachusetts, 
in  the  fall  of  189 1,  the  writer  saw  some  temporary  covering  of  the 
kind  above  described,  which  Dr.  C.  Irving  Fisher,  the  superinten- 
dent at  that  time,  was  using  on  some  new  construction,  while  wait- 
ing for  an  appropriation  to  buy  the  regular  material. 

t  Seepage  13. 

42 


CONSTRUCTION 


an  economy  early  in  the  autumn,  before  it  is 
necessary  to  do  more  than  take  the  chill  off  the  air. 
As  a  ventilator,  the  open  hearth  with  a  fire  burning 
in  it  is  worth  almost  all  that  it  costs. 


LIGHTING 

Wherever  possible,  lighting  should  be  by  in- 
candescent electric  globes.  If  the  wiring  is  done 
with  care  and  according  to  the  best  modern 
methods,  this  is  the  safest,  as  well  as  the  most 
sanitary  system  of  lighting.  It  must  also  be 
remembered  that  if  the  wiring  is  done  carelessly, 
or  by  an  ignorant  workman,  electric  wires  may  be 
a  constant  source  of  danger  from  fire. 

Many  almshouses  of  moderate  size  are  now 
lighted  by  electricity,  either  from  some  central 
system,  or  generated  on  the  premises  by  a  small 
individual  plant.  In  some  cases,  coal  gas  can  be 
piped  from  a  near-by  station,  and  there  are  still 
places  where  natural  gas  is  available  for  the  pur- 
pose. If  either  natural  or  artificial  gas  is  used  it 
should  be  by  the  mantle  system. 

Acetylene  gas  is  used  with  success  in  some  alms- 
houses, and  certain  methods  of  gasoline  vapor- 
lighting  are  reasonably  safe  if  properly  installed. 
Almost  any  one  of  these  systems  is  preferable 
to  kerosene  lamps.  If,  however,  kerosene  lamps 
must  be  used,  certain  very  positive  rules  should 
be  laid  down  and  strictly  enforced.  The  stock  of 
kerosene  should  be  kept  outside  the  house,  pref- 

43 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

erably  in  a  small  shed  some  distance  from  any 
other  building.  The  lamps  should  be  cleaned  and 
filled  at  a  certain  time  and  always  by  daylight, 
by  some  employe  with  whom  it  is  a  regular  duty; 
they  should  never  be  carried  from  place  to  place 
while  lighted,  nor  lighted  at  all  by  anyone  but 
the  person  assigned  to  the  duty. 


VENTILATION 

Whoever,  at  the  on-coming  of  autumn,  starts  in 
to  ventilate  an  almshouse  by  means  of  doors, 
windows,  and  transoms,  has  a  job  before  him  that 
will  last  all  winter.  Some  systematic  ventilation 
by  means  outside  the  control  of  the  inmates  is 
imperative. 

It  is  probably  because  the  general  public  does 
not  demand  pure  air  to  breathe  that  architects  so 
generally  fail  in  their  plans  for  ventilation.  People 
seem  to  think  that  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  open  a 
hole,  even  a  very  small  one,  and  bad  air  will  go 
out  and  good  air  come  in.  They  seem  to  forget 
the  fact  that  air  will  not  move,  any  more  than  will 
coal  or  iron,  without  force  to  move  it. 

It  is  impracticable  in  this  volume  to  go  into  the 
details  of  a  system  of  ventilation,  even  were 
the  writer  competent  to  do  so.  He  can  only 
suggest  that  the  architect  should  be  admonished 
that  so-called  "natural  ventilation,"  namely,  that 
effected  by  doors,  windows,  transoms,  and  open 
grates,  is  never  sufficient  for  an  almshouse  or  for 

44 


CONSTRUCTION 

any  other  institution,  especially  one  for  defectives; 
and  that  he  be  required  to  provide  in  the  original 
plans  for  a  thorough  and  complete  ventilating 
system.  Such  a  system  can  never  be  installed 
later  after  the  house  is  once  built. 


45 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  ADM  INISTRATION 

THE  GOVERNING  BOARD 

UPON  the  governing  board,  the  County 
Commissioners,  or  Board  of  Supervisors, 
or  Overseers,  etc.,  as  they  are  called  in 
various  states,  rests  the  final  responsibility  for  the 
good  administration  of  the  almshouse.  They 
cannot  discharge  this  responsibility  without  giving 
a  great  deal  of  personal  attention  to  the  details  of 
management.  This  implies  more  than  merely  a 
careful  audit  of  the  accounts  with  occasional 
visits  during  the  monthly  or  quarterly  sessions 
of  the  board  at  a  time  when  they  are  expected. 
Frequent  visits  at  irregular  periods  and  careful 
inspection  of  every  part  of  the  institution  are 
required  and  are  always  productive  of  good.  On 
such  visits  the  inmates  should  be  seen,  and,  without 
inviting  complaints,  any  one  having  a  complaint 
to  make  should  be  courteously  heard.  The  time 
to  correct  errors  and  remedy  things  that  have 
gone  wrong  is  at  the  beginning  before  they  have 
gone  far  wrong. 

The  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  superin- 
tendent of  an  institution  are  numerous  and  heavy. 

46 


THE    ADMINISTRATION 

The  members  of  the  governing  board  can  be  of 
great  help  to  their  superintendent  by  frequent 
visits  and  intelligent  counsel.  He  feels  that  they 
are  equally  interested  with  himself  in  the  success 
of  the  administration  to  which  they  have  appointed 
him,  and  when  speaking  to  one  of  them,  is  sure  of  a 
sympathetic  listener.  Again,  the  more  intimately 
the  members  of  the  board  know  the  details  of 
management  the  better  equipped  they  will  be  to 
decide  on  the  expenditure  of  money  in  matters 
of  repairs  and  improvements. 

In  some  states,  where  there  are  three  commis- 
sioners in  each  county,  it  is  usual  to  appoint  one 
of  the  three  as  a  special  committee  of  one  on  the 
almshouse.  This  is  usually  the  one  who  lives 
nearest  the  institution.  In  other  places  the  duty 
is  taken  by  the  different  members  in  rotation. 
Either  plan  may  work  well;  the  important  point 
in  this  connection  is  that  some  one  interested 
shall  be  in  close  touch  with  all  that  goes  on  and 
ready  with  a  word  of  counsel  and  advice  at  the 
opportune  moment. 

The  standard  of  administration  in  any  public 
institution  will  be  what  the  governing  board 
insists  upon  or  allows.  It  may  be  taken  as 
axiomatic  that  good  business  management  pays 
both  in  cash  and  in  human  well-being.  Useless 
waste  and  extravagance  are  no  better  for  the 
inmates  than  for  the  taxpayers.  Sometimes  it 
would  seem  as  though  the  care  and  custody  of  the 
county's  property  is  considered  more  important 

47 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

than  the  care  and  custody,  or  the  welfare,  of  the 
dependent  inmates.  But,  usually,  good  care  of  the 
house  goes  with  good  care  of  the  inmates.  As 
has  already  been  stated,  we  generally  fmd  the  best 
business  management  in  the  most  comfortable, 
cleanly,  and  orderly  institutions,  and  a  poorly 
managed,  disorderly,  and  uncomfortable  almshouse 
among  the  most  costly. 


THE  SUPERINTENDENT 

This  oificer  should  be  chosen  strictly  on  his 
merits  and  with  entire  disregard  of  politics. 
Perhaps  no  worse  plan  of  choosing  could  be  devised 
than  to  solicit  bids  and  give  the  place  to  the  lowest 
bidder.*  Instead,  the  commissioners  should  fix 
the  salary  and  fmd  the  best  man  they  can  get  for 
the  price.  He  should  be  paid  a  reasonable  salary 
and  have  no  personal  or  pecuniary  interest  in  the 
crops,  the  live  stock,  or  any  property  about  the 
institution,  except  such  as  comes  from  the  knowl- 
edge that  if  the  institution  is  well  managed  his 
position  will  be  a  permanent  one. 

The  qualifications  needed  for  a  superintendent 
are  not  very  often  united  in  one  man.  He  should 
be  a  practical  farmer  and  one  who  farms  with 
brains,  and  not  merely  follows  a  routine  of  old 
custom.  He  must  have  fair  business  ability, 
strict  integrity,  good  habits,  even  temper,  a  kind 

*  This  was  formerly  practiced  almost  universally  in  more  than  one 
state. 

48 


THE    ADMINISTRATION 

heart,  and  a  good  reputation  among  his  neighbors 
in  the  county. 

The  inmates  of  an  almshouse  are  of  various 
classes.  Differing  in  intellectual  capacity  and 
personal  habits,  they  yet  tend  to  a  common  level  of 
life  and  manners;  if  they  are  uncontrolled,  this 
common  level  is  more  likely  to  be  that  of  the 
lowest  than  of  the  highest  among  them.  The 
efforts  of  the  superintendent  must,  therefore,  be 
constantly  bent  to  the  physical  and  moral  im- 
provement of  those  he  has  in  charge. 

It  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  moral  tone  of  the  almshouse,  and  to 
some  extent  for  the  actions  of  the  inmates,  rests 
upon  the  superintendent  and  upon  the  commis- 
sioners who  appoint  him.  The  disability  of  the 
chronic  pauper  is  more  of  the  mind  than  of  the 
body.  Weak  in  will,  infirm  of  purpose,  he  will 
yield  to  firm  control,  especially  the  control  of  one 
who  shows  that  he  wishes  him  well,  and  that  the 
regulations  he  makes  are  for  the  benefit  of  the 
inmates  as  much  as  for  that  of  the  managers. 
It  may  be  objected  that  such  a  theory  of  manage- 
ment demands  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary 
character  and  sense  of  duty,  and  this  must  be 
granted.  No  superintendent  who  takes  the  place 
merely  for  the  money  there  is  in  it  will  be  per- 
manently successful  in  management.  Character 
is  of  greater  consequence  than  ability  as  farmer  or 
business  man,  and  should  be  the  first  requirement 
exacted  by  the  commissioners  in  their  choice. 
4  49 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  superin- 
tendent is  the  division  of  the  labor  of  the  inmates. 
Often  a  few  willing  workers  are  taxed  almost 
beyond  their  strength,  while  the  majority  spend 
their  time  in  idle  gossiping  and  petty  quarrels. 
As  far  as  possible  each  inmate  should  have  some 
specified  daily  duty.  Even  the  old  and  feeble 
should  have  some  light  task  suited  to  their 
strength,  and  the  able-bodied  should  be  required 
to  do  a  full  day's  work  every  day.  This  requires 
much  intelligent  thought  on  the  part  of  the  super- 
intendent and  matron,  but  if  successfully  done  the 
improved  tone  of  the  institution  will  repay  the 
effort.* 

The  appointments  and  dismissals  and  the  control 
of  his  subordinates  are  among  the  superintendent's 
chief  responsibilities.  The  governing  board  should 
decide  on  the  number  and  compensation  of  the 
employes,  but  the  superintendent  should  be  given 
full  authority  over  them,  and  they  should  feel  that 
they  keep  their  positions  because  they  loyally 
and  efficiently  co-operate  with  him  in  his  work. 
The  superintendent  must  be  held  responsible  for 
the  actions  of  the  employes,  therefore  he  must  have 
authority  over  them.j  Otherwise  discipline  is 
impossible. 

*  For  particulars  of  employment,  see  the  section  on  Occupation 
and  Labor,  page  74. 

t  See  Appendix  V,  page  163.     Section  3  of  the  Indiana  Law. 


50 


THE    ADMINISTRATION 

THE  MATRON 

As  a  general  rule,  especially  in  the  smaller  alms- 
houses, the  matron  should  be  the  wife  of  the 
superintendent.  Her  qualifications  are  as  impor- 
tant as  those  of  her  husband.  Occasionally  we 
find  a  man  competent  to  attend  to  domestic 
details  in  addition  to  carrying  on  the  general 
management  of  the  institution  and  the  farm,  but 
usually  the  comfort  and  order  of  the  house  depend 
upon  the  house-mother.  The  female  inmates  are 
her  special  charge  and  in  small  almshouses  she 
must  care  for  the  sick.  It  is  evident  that  a  young 
mother  with  a  group  of  little  children  of  her  own 
to  care  for,  will  have  neither  time  nor  strength  for 
these  duties.  Usually,  therefore,  a  married  couple 
without  children,  or  one  whose  children  have  grown 
up  and  started  life  for  themselves,  must  be  chosen. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  matron  must 
be  a  thoroughly  competent  housekeeper  able  to 
direct  the  inmates  and  the  hired  help  in  every 
detail  of  work.  Usually  a  successful  farmer's 
wife,  accustomed  to  doing  the  woman's  part  on  a 
farm,  has  the  necessary  knowledge  and  experience. 
But  it  is  not  enough  to  know  how  to  do  the  work; 
the  art  of  managing  the  labor  of  others,  many  of 
them  far  from  competent,  must  also  be  possessed 
by  a  good  matron.  More  domestic  failures  come 
from  lack  of  this  ability  than  from  all  other  causes 
put  together. 

In  large  institutions  it  is  practicable  to  divide 
51 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

the  labor  of  oversight  into  departments,  each 
under  a  competent  head.  But  in  small  ones  the 
matron  must  direct  the  kitchen  and  the  laundry, 
the  dining  and  sick  room,  the  clothing  and  store- 
room, and  the  dairy.  She  must  assign  the  em- 
ployment of  the  female  inmates  and  teach  them 
how  to  work.  The  winter  stock  of  preserved  and 
canned  provisions,  perhaps  also  the  salted  and 
smoked  meats,  must  be  put  up  under  her  direction, 
and  often  also  even  the  care  of  the  chickens  and 
younger  live  stock  is  regarded  as  within  her 
province. 

With  all  these  many  duties  is  the  constant  and 
never  ending  one  of  patient,  kindly,  and  tactful 
treatment  of  inmates,  employes  and  the  occasional 
visitor.  Successful  administration  depends  more 
than  anything  else  upon  tactful  management, 
avoidance  of  friction,  and  the  removing  beforehand 
of  any  cause  of  complaint. 


THE  SUBORDINATE  EMPLOYES 

The  number  and  occupation  of  the  subordinate 
employes  will  vary  with  the  size  and  the  methods 
of  the  almshouse.  As  a  general  rule  it  may  be 
said  that  they  should  be  of  a  higher  grade,  both 
intellectually  and  morally,  than  people  engaged 
in  similar  work  which  is  non-institutional.  Like 
the  superintendent,  they  must  be  chosen  for  their 
character  and  ability  alone.  The  almshouse  is  no 
place  for  the  payment  of  political  debts,  nor  for 

52 


THE    ADMINISTRATION 

the^'shelter  (except  as  inmates)  of  incompetents 
who  have  failed  in  ordinary  business. 

The  subordinate  employes  should  feel  them- 
selves to  be  the  superintendent's  assistants. 
They  must  not  only  be  competent  in  their  own 
departments,  but  they  must  have  the  ability  to 
direct  the  labor  of  others,  many  of  whom  are 
among  the  least  capable  of  their  kind.  What  is 
said  in  the  preceding  page  about  the  qualifications 
for  the  superintendent  and  matron  applies  to  all 
employes.  They  must  be  of  kindly  and  cheerful 
disposition  and  must  possess  a  full  share  of  tact. 
The  most  efficient  employe,  if  of  an  irritable  or 
over-quick  temper,  is  out  of  place  among  feeble 
and  defective  people. 

The  salaries  paid  should  be  enough  to  attract 
competent  help  and  to  keep  them.  If  they  do 
their  full  duty  their  task  is  always  onerous  and 
often  irksome.  To  expect  faithful  service  in  a 
disagreeable  position  from  able  persons  of  good 
character,  and  to  offer  them  in  return  wages  below, 
sometimes  much  below,  those  paid  for  less  trying 
duties  of  a  similar  character  outside  the  institution, 
is  simply  folly.  Yet  this  is  exactly  what  is  being 
done  in  many  large  city  almshouses,  and  the  result 
is  what  might  be  rightfully  expected — incompetent, 
perpetually  changing  help,  and  resulting  discom- 
fort to  the  inmates  and  waste  to  the  city. 


53 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

VISITORS  AND  INSPECTORS 
In  discussing  location  it  was  asserted  that 
accessibility,  both  for  the  sake  of  economy  of  time 
and  money  in  conveying  new  inmates  and  also 
for  the  convenience  of  visitors,  was  a  proper 
consideration  in  choosing  a  site  for  an  alms- 
house. 

Visitors  are  of  three  classes.  The  first  are  the 
friends  or  relatives  of  the  inmates.  These  should 
be  welcomed  at  all  proper  times.  It  is  usual  and 
well  to  have  certain  days  and  hours  for  such 
visiting,  although  in  case  of  sickness  or  other 
emergency,  these  should  not  be  too  strictly  en- 
forced. The  second  class  consists  of  the  citizens 
of  the  county  who  wish  to  see  the  institution 
because  it  is  a  part  of  the  public  service.  As  a 
general  rule,  citizens  should  be  admitted  quite 
freely  and  escorted  through  the  building,  but  care 
should  be  exercised  that  the  feeble  or  defective 
should  not  be  made  into  a  show  for  the  gratification 
of  idle  curiosity.  The  third  and  most  important 
visitors  are  those  having  some  oificial  connection 
with  the  public  service:  the  county  commissioners 
or  the  circuit  judges;  members  of  the  county 
board  of  charities;  inspectors  of  the  state  board 
of  charities  or  the  state  board  of  health  and  others. 
Along  with  these  and  of  equal  importance  are 
representatives  of  the  press  and  members  of 
charitable  societies  or  committees,  ministers  of 
the  various  churches  and  other  people  who  may 

54 


THE    ADMINISTRATION 

be  assumed  to  take  more  than  a  general  interest 
in  the  care  of  the  poor. 

When  visitors  of  the  third  class  appear,  it  is 
well  for  the  superintendent  or  matron  to  escort 
them  in  person  so  that  their  various  questions 
may  be  promptly  and  fully  answered.  They 
should  be  made  to  feel  that  their  interest  is  appre- 
ciated and  that  their  visits  are  desired.  Courte- 
ous attention  of  this  kind  is  very  well  bestowed, 
and  even  captious  or  frivolous  criticism  should 
be  politely  received  and  answered.  The  officials 
of  the  institution  ought  to  feel  ready  at  all  times 
to  give  an  account  of  their  stewardship  to  the 
public  whose  servants  they  are. 

Every  public  officer  needs  the  support  of  a 
favorable  public  opinion.  It  should  be  his  ambi- 
tion to  deserve  it  and  his  pleasure  to  show  facts 
upon  which  it  can  be  based.  This  does  not  mean 
that  he  is  to  minimize  or  conceal  defects  that  are 
out  of  his  power  to  remedy.  He  may  be  confident 
that  the  majority  of  the  taxpayers  desire  public 
institutions  to  be  properly  conducted.  If  they 
believe  the  money  they  pay  is  honestly  spent  for 
the  comfort  of  the  poor  they  will  not  grudge  the 
cost.  If,  however,  they  see  evidence  of  neglect 
and  avoidable  suffering,  they  will  be  rightly  dis- 
satisfied. 

There  have  been  many  cases  in  which  the  pub- 
licity given  by  the  visits  of  influential  citizens  to 
some  decaying  or  neglectedinstitution  has  resulted 
in  improvements  which  had  been  refused  by  the 

55 


THE    ALMSHOUSE       ' 

authorities  because  they  would  cost  the  taxpayers 
some  money.  Often  such  pubHcity,  with  the  help 
of  the  newspapers,  is  the  only  thing  which  can 
bring  about  reforms. 

In  this  connection  the  superintendent  ought  to 
value  and  make  the  most  of  the  visits  of  inspec- 
tion made  by  the  agents  of  the  board  of  state 
charities,  where  these  useful  boards  exist.  These 
agents  give  their  whole  time  to  inspection  and 
their  eyes  are  trained  to  notice  things  that  often 
are  overlooked,  even  by  people  who  see  them  every 
day.  Their  advice,  if  they  can  be  induced  to 
speak  freely  (which  is  not  always  possible),  is 
often  of  great  value.  While  they  are  not  them- 
selves administering  institutions,  they  are  familiar 
with  the  conditions  of  a  great  many  of  them  and 
they  can  usually  suggest  some  way  of  meeting 
almost  any  difficulty  that  may  arise.  Such 
visitors  with  the  influence  that  they  possess,  can 
be  and  usually  are,  the  best  and  most  helpful 
friends  of  every  public  servant  who  is  doing  his 
duty.  If  they  are  met  in  the  right  spirit  by  the 
faithful  official,  their  visits  will  not  be  dreaded  nor 
disliked  but  will  be  welcome  breaks  in  the  monot- 
ony-of  institution  life. 


56 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  INMATES 

CLASSES  ADMITTED 

A  FEW  years  ago,  almost  everywhere,  in- 
mates of  almshouses  were,  and  in  too  many 
places  they  still  are,  a  very  heterogeneous 
mass,  representing  alrnost  every  kind  of  human 
distress.  Old  veterans  of  labor  worn  out  by  many 
years  of  ill-requited  toil,  alongside  of  worn  out 
veterans  of  dissipation  the  victims  of  their  own 
vices;  the  crippled  and  the  sick;  the  insane;  the 
blind;  deaf  mutes;  feeble-minded  and  epileptic; 
people  with  all  kinds  of  chronic  diseases;  unmar- 
ried mothers  with  their  babies;  short  term  prison- 
ers; thieves,  no  longer  physically  capable  of  crime; 
worn  out  prostitutes,  etc.;  and  along  with  all 
these,  little  orphaned  or  deserted  children,  and  a 
few  people  of  better  birth  and  breeding  reduced 
to  poverty  in  old  age  by  some  financial  disaster, 
often  through  no  fault  of  their  own.* 

From  this  very  heterogeneous  mass,  one  class 
after  another  has  been  segregated.  The  segrega- 
tion has  rarely,  if  ever,  been  based  on  scientific 

*  See  Appendix  VI,  page  171,  The  Function  of  the  Almshouse. 
57 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

principles  or  according  to  any  systematic  plan. 
Not  that  class  which  could  be  the  most  benefited, 
nor  the  one  whose  removal  would  most  benefit  the 
institution  itself,  has  been  the  first  to  be  taken 
away;  but  public  interest  has  been  aroused  con- 
cerning some  suffering  people  whose  conditions 
have  been  seen  to  be  extremely  bad  in  the  alms- 
house, and  the  result  has  been  a  new  institution 
for  this  particular  class.  These  specialized  institu- 
tions have  generally  been  conducted  by  the  state, 
while  almshouses  in  this  country,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  are  conducted  by  counties,  towns  or 
cities.  Hence  has  arisen  a  controversy  in  many 
places  between  the  advocates  of  state  care  and  the 
advocates  of  county  care  for  different  classe^s  of 
defectives  and  dependents,  and  that  opposition  to 
centralization  which  is  characteristic  of  a  demo- 
cratic form  of  government,  has  had  something  to 
do  in  hindering  further  institutional  development. 
During  the  course  of  years,  in  all  progressive 
states,  many  of  the  various  classes  of  people 
mentioned  above  have  been  removed  to  institu- 
tions specially  equipped  for  them.  For  instance, 
it  is  now  illegal  in  many  states  to  allow  a  child 
between  two  and  sixteen  years  of  age  to  remain 
in  an  almshouse  more  than  a  few  days  or  a  few 
weeks.  State  care  of  the  insane  now  largely 
prevails  in  theory,  and  in  few  places  are  violent 
and  dangerous  maniacs  permitted  in  the  alms- 
house. As  a  rule,  the  only  blind  and  deaf  persons 
now  remaining  are  those  who  are  very  old.     The 

58 


THE     INMATES 

feeble-minded  are  segregated  in  many  states, 
although  nowhere  is  the  segregation  of  this  class 
complete.  The  same  is  true  in  a  less  degree  of 
the  epileptic.  It  seems  probable  that  in  a  few 
years  the  almshouse  everywhere  will  really  be 
what  it  is  called  in  New  York  City,  "The  Home 
for  the  Aged  and  Infirm."  This  latter  view  is  the 
one  that  prevails  in  the  present  volume.  While 
some  paragraphs  are  devoted  to  the  care  of  certain 
of  the  other  classes  mentioned  above,  the  assump- 
tion that  they  are  not  properly  housed  in  the  alms- 
house is  always  to  be  understood. 

When  all  other  classes  have  been  segregated,  the 
final  and  permanent  class,  the  aged  and  infirm,  is 
by  no  means  a  homogeneous  one.  Uniformity  of 
economic  condition,  the  fact  that  all  are  alike 
poor  and  dependent,  does  not  make  them  alike 
socially,  nor  justify  absolute  uniformity  of  treat- 
ment; and  the  administration  that  does  not 
distinguish  between  the  victims  of  misfortune  and 
the  victims  of  vice,  cannot  be  just  to  either  class. 
To  doom  decent,  honest,  cleanly  men  and  women 
to  close  association  with  diseased,  vicious,  and 
filthy  persons,  is  as  unfair  as  it  is  cruel.*  It 
would  be  as  reasonable  to  say  that  every  sick 
patient  in  a  hospital  should  be  fed  or  nursed  exactly 
like  every  other,  as  to  insist  that  all  almshouse 
inmates  should  be  treated  alike.  The  classifica- 
tion between  male  and  female,  or  between  adult 

*  See  Chapter  V  and  also  Appendix  Vll,  pages  i8i  and  193,  de- 
scribing tile  Social  Classifications  in  English  and  Danish  Poorhouses. 

59 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

and  juvenile,  is  not  more  necessary  than  that 
between  the  decent,  cleanly  poor,  and  the  de- 
praved and  degraded  pauper. 


METHODS  OF  ADMISSION 

The  oificer  authorized  to  give  the  order  of 
admission  to  the  almshouse  is  usually  the  overseer 
of  the  poor  of  the  township  in  which  the  applicant 
resides.  In  some  states  the  justice  of  the  peace 
has  the  same  authority;  occasionally  we  fmd  ad- 
mission is  granted  by  the  board  of  county  commis- 
sioners, and  in  some  places  commitments  are  made 
by  judges.  Whoever  gives  the  order  it  is  in  writing 
and  is  mandatory;  /.  e.,  the  superintendent  has  no 
choice,  but  must  receive  every  one  who  comes  with 
a  legal  order.  Sometimes  an  inmate  who  has  been 
dismissed  for  serious  misconduct  at  once  applies  to 
the  overseer  of  the  poor  for  a  new  admission  order, 
which  he  obtains,  and  presents,  to  the  great  em- 
barrassment of  the  superintendent.  On  this  and 
other  accounts  it  is  desirable  that  the  superinten- 
dent establish  a  cordial  understanding  with  the 
overseers  of  the  poor,  so  that  they  may  work  in 
harmony.  I  n  case  it  should  be  necessary  to  dismiss 
an  inmate  for  cause,  the  superintendent  should  at 
once  notify  the  overseer  of  the  township  to  which 
he  belongs  of  the  fact  and  the  reason  for  it. 

The  necessity  of  convincing  persons  asking  for 
admission  that  the  institution  has  rul^s  which  they 
must  obey,  has  induced  some  superintendents  to 

60 


THE    INMATES 

interest  overseers  in  a  form  of  admission  which 
should  leave  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  inmate 
as  to  what  is  expected  of  him.  The  following 
is  an  admission  form  that  has  been  extensively 
used : 

May  I,  1911 
To  the  Superintendent  of  the  Almshouse 
County  of  Washington 
You  are  hereby  directed  to  admit  John  Doe  from  Center 
township  as  an  inmate  of  your  institution  and  to  keep  him 
there  so  long  as  he  is  obedient  to  its  rules  and  regulations. 
It  is  understood  and  agreed  that  so  long  as  he  continues  an 
inmate  of  the  Institution  he  will  cheerfully  perform  any  labor 
within  his  ability  that  shall  be  assigned  to  him. 
Signed,  Richard  Roe, 
Overseer  of  the  Poor,  Center  Township 


ADMISSION  OF  UNFIT  PERSONS* 

The  admission  of  persons  not  properly  within 
the  care  of  an  almshouse  is  something  that  must 
be  guarded  against.  Sometimes  admission  of 
people  who  have  sufficient  means  of  support  is 
secured  by  undue  influence  of  various  kinds — 
political,  friendly,  occasionally  even  sectarian. 
Quite  frequently  old  people  will  be  brought  in 
who  have  sons  or  daughters  well  able  financially 
to  care  for  them,  and  who  are  legally  bound  to  do 
so.  It  is  evidently  an  imposition  on  the  taxpayer 
to  support  such  persons  at  public  expense. 

In  some  states  the  county  authorities  are  in  the 

*  See  Appendix  VI,  page  171,  The  Function  of  the  Almshouse. 
61 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

habit  of  receiving  persons  who  have  some  means  of 
their  own  or  whose  children  can  support  them, 
and  of  collecting  a  moderate  sum  for  their  board. 
A  few  years  ago,  with  a  view  to  compelling  those 
responsible  (and  able)  to  contribute  to  their 
support,  an  investigation  was  made  of  the  in- 
mates of  the  county  almshouse  and  the  county 
hospital  for  the  insane  in  Hudson  County,  New 
Jersey.  One  week's  work  resulted  in  guarantees 
of  $2,600  per  annum  from  relatives  towards 
maintenance.* 

It  is  obvious  from  the  nature  of  an  almshouse 
that  it  is  not  and  should  not  be  considered  a 
place  of  punishment.  Yet  in  some  places  we 
find  judges  committing  short-term  prisoners  to  it 
and  a  similar  practice  once  prevailed  and  still 
exists  in  some  states  in  regard  to  disorderly 
persons.!  This  is  due  to  sentiments  of  humanity 
on  the  part  of  the  judge,  who  feels  that  the  jail  is 
an  unfit  place  and  that  there  is  no  fit  place  avail- 
able. 

The  first  distinction  that  we  make  in  considering 
those  for  whom  the  public  must  care,  is  between 
dependents  and  delinquents.  To  complicate  the 
care  of  the  aged  and  infirm  poor  with  that  of 

*  See  Proceedings  of  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correc- 
tion, 1906,  p.  47. 

t  See  Appendix  VIII,  p.  198,  County  Houses  of  Correction  in  New 
Hampshire.  A  statute  of  Pennsylvania  fixes  a  penalty  for  vagrancy 
as  "Commitment  to  labor  upon  any  County  farm,  or  upon  the  roads 
and  highways  of  any  city,  county,  township,  or  borough,  or  in  any 
house  of  correction,  poorhouse,  workhouse,  or  common  jail,  for  a  term 
not  less  than  thirty  days  and  not  exceeding  six  months." 

62 


THE     INMATES 

short-term  prisoners  or  disorderly  persons  is  an 
exceedingly  unfortunate  arrangement.  Until  the 
methods  of  our  almshouses  and  the  laws  governing 
them  shall  be  radically  changed  so  as  to  insure 
restraint  and  employment,  as  is  done  in  the  Dan- 
ish Workhouse  mentioned  in  Appendix  VII,  page 
193,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  hold  people  against  their 
will.  When  tramps  are  received  they  may  be  re- 
garded as  delinquents  by  those  who  send  them, 
but  in  admitting  and  feeding  them  the  superin- 
tendent is  extending  public  relief. 

Besides  persons  with  support,  either  actual  or 
potential,  and  delinquents,  there  are  many  others 
often  sent  to  almshouses  who  should  be  otherwise 
provided  for.  Among  these  are  the  insane,  epileptic, 
and  feeble-minded,  and  children  both  defective  and 
normal.  While  most  states  now  care  for  the  vio- 
lently insane  in  state  or  county  hospitals,  there  are 
and  probably  will  long  be,  many  of  the  chronic  and 
harmless  of  this  class  in  almshouses.  In  the  chap- 
ter on  Defectives,  some  instances  of  the  kind  are 
given.* 

Epileptics  in  a  few  states  are  now  provided  for 
in  special  state  institutions.  It  seems  probable 
that  many  more  communities  will  follow  the 
example.  But  no  state  has  so  far  provided  for  all 
of  even  the  dependent  epileptics,  and  many  of 
them  are  certain  for  a  long  time  to  be  necessarily 
sheltered  in  almshouses. 

With  the  exception  of  the  senile,  the  feeble- 

*See  Chapter  VIII,  p.  126. 

63 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

minded  constitute  perhaps  the  largest  single  class 
of  the  almshouse  population.  The  possibility  of 
the  state  taking  charge  of  all  of  them  seems  still 
remote,  and  many  of  the  men,  and  the  women  who 
are  above  child-bearing  age,  may  be  cared  for  in 
this  institution  with  little  danger  of  evil  conse- 
quences. Among  this  class  are  often  found  the 
best  working  inmates.  The  feeble-minded  chil- 
dren, on  the  contrary,  should  by  all  means  be  sent 
to  a  state  school  where  they  may  be  educated  for 
at  least  partial  self-support.  The  same  is  em- 
phatically true  of  the  deaf  and  blind;  dependent 
adults  may  be  allowed  in  the  almshouse,  children 
never. 

The  laws  of  all  progressive  states  now  prohibit 
the  presence  of  normal  children  in  almshouses. 
If  there  is  an  infallible  evidence  of  backwardness 
in  a  commonwealth,  the  permitting  its  normal 
children  to  be  trained  in  pauperism — which  is  what 
being  brought  up  in  an  almshouse  means — is  such 
evidence.  In  states  where  this  is  still  legal  the 
aim  of  the  superintendent  when  children  are  sent 
in  should  be  to  get  them  into  good  homes  just  as 
soon  as  possible. 

Cases  of  sickness  are  treated  in  another  chapter.* 
No  general  rule  can  be  laid  down  for  them,  and  the 
condition  of  the  particular  almshouse  must  also  be 
considered;  where  this  has  become  indeed  the 
county  hospital, t  it  is  an  appropriate  place  to  take 

*  Chapter  VII,  page  1 17. 

t  See  Appendix  III,  page  158,  County  Hospitals. 

64 


.»}  J  3  3   J 


3  »  »  J  > 

•  91   3  3  >»3 


u 


THE    INMATES 


a  case  of  serious  illness.  If,  however,  the  hospital 
department  is  poorly  equipped  and  the  nursing 
is  untrained,  those  who  are  seriously  ill  should, 
if  possible,  be  cared  for  elsewhere. 


CLASSIFICATION 

No  one  part  of  almshouse  administration  has 
more  to  do  with  order  and  comfort  than  the  proper 
classification  of  the  inmates.  This  is  difficult 
in  a  very  small  institution,  and  it  is  in  a  certain 
sense  not  so  necessary,  except  as  to  the  separation 
of  the  sexes,  since  the  matron  comes  into  imme- 
diate relation  with  every  individual  inmate.  As 
soon  as  the  number  increases  so  as  to  make  such 
individualization  impossible,  the  necessity  of  strict 
classification  arises. 

The  first  and  most  obvious  division  is  of  the 
sexes.  It  is  impossible  to  be  too  strict  in  this. 
The  separation  should  be  absolute  and  constant. 
It  means  not  merely  separate  dormitories  and  day 
rooms,  but  separate  dining  rooms  and  recreation 
yards. 

Even  when  the  inmates  present  are  quite  old 
people  the  separation  must  be  complete,  for  new 
inmates  may  be  admitted  at  any  time  for  whom 
the  precautions  are  imperative.  The  rule,  there- 
fore, should  be  a  permanent  one.  It  should  be 
impossible  for  men  and  women  to  make  a  harmful 
acquaintance  which,  though  safeguarded  in  the 
institution,  can  be  continued  outside  if  the  inmates 
5  65 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

choose  to  leave.*  Cases  have  been  known  of  a 
man  and  a  woman  leaving  simultaneously,  and 
after  a  few  days'  debauch  successfully  gaining 
re-admittance,  with  the  result  of  the  birth  of  a 
child  in  the  almshouse  in  due  process  of  time. 
The  only  exception  to  the  separation  of  sexes 
should  be  in  the  case  of  old  married  couples. 
For  them  a  special  department  should  be  arranged, 
all  the  better  if  it  is  outside  the  main  building. 

If  sex  separation  is  necessary  with  the  normal 
inmates,  it  is  pre-eminently  so  with  the  feeble- 
minded. The  treatment  of  feeble-minded  women 
in  almshouses  forms  one  of  the  worst  chapters  in 
the  history  of  institution  mismanagement.  In  a 
few  states  the  beginnings  of  proper  control  of  the 
feeble-minded  women  of  child-bearing  age,  by 
means  of  a  state  institution,  have  been  made.  In 
none,  however,  is  that  control  complete,  and  there 
are  many  almshouses  in  the  land  where  there 
may  be  found  idiotic  or  imbecile  women  with 
illegitimate  children,  often  both  begotten  and 
born  there. t 

In  almshouses  almost  everywhere,  and  notably 
in  the  small  rural  communities,  much  of  the  popu- 
lation will  be  constant  for  many  years.  Permanent 
inmates  are  entitled  to  a  great  deal  of  very  kindly 
consideration.  Many  of  them  are  decent  persons 
whose  old  age  dependency  is  due  to  no  fault  of 

*  See  section  on  Sex  Relations  in  the  large  English  workhouses,  Ap- 
pendix I,  page  141. 

t  See  Appendix  IX,  page  201,  Imbeciles  in  Almshouses. 

66 


THE    INMATES 

their  own,  or  at  worst  to  a  lack  of  thrift ;  sometimes 
it  is  the  result  of  too  much  generosity.  For  such 
people  everything  possible  should  be  done  to  make 
the  almshouse  really  a  "home  for  the  aged  and 
infirm,"  and  they  should  especially  be  spared 
association  with  the  unruly  or  vicious.  An  ad- 
mirable method  for  the  housing  of  the  better 
classes  of  inmates  is  to  provide  small  cottages  of 
one  or  two  rooms,  detached  from  the  main  building, 
in  which  an  old  married  couple  or  two  old  people 
of  the  same  sex  may  live  together.  This  plan  has 
been  adopted  to  a  small  extent  in  England,*  and 
also  in  a  few  places  in  this  country,  with  excellent 
results. 

The  writer,  many  years  ago,  saw  an  example  of 
cottage  homes  in  Hamilton  County,  Indiana. 
At  the  rear  of  the  main  building  across  a  grass 
plot,  was  a  row  of  small  frame  cottages  of  one  room 
each.  In  front  of  them  was  a  long  porch,  its 
pillars  covered  with  climbing  roses  and  morning 
glories.  Each  little  shanty,  for  they  were  nothing 
more,  was  occupied  by  two  old  men  or  two  old 
women,  or  an  old  married  couple.  Abundant 
natural  gas,  found  on  the  farm,  made  the  matter 
of  heating  and  lighting  simple.  Each  cottage  had 
a  small  cook  stove  which  served  also  to  heat  the 
apartment.  The  walls  were  whitewashed.  The 
furniture  in  most  of  them  had  been  brought  from 
a  former  home,  and  so  each  room  looked  quite 
different  from  every  other.     At  the  end  of  the  row 

*  See  Appendix  VII,  page  183. 

67 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

lived  an  old  physician,  once  quite  well  off,  with  a 
practice  at  the  county  seat,  and  his  wife,  reduced 
to  poverty  at  the  ages  of  eighty  and  seventy- 
five  by  accident  and  other  misfortunes.  They 
had  their  own  featherbed,  bureau  and  chairs, 
a  good  library  of  books,  and  a  few  pictures.  They 
made  their  own  breakfast  and  supper,  sometimes 
going  over  to  the  "brick  house"  for  dinner,  some- 
times not.  They  were  devoutly  thankful,  since 
they  had  to  end  their  days  in  the  almshouse,  that 
their  lot  had  fallen  so  as  to  include  even  a  one-room 
cottage  which  they  might  have  to  themselves. 

The  superintendent  of  that  almshouse  said  that 
when  there  was  a  vacant  place  in  one  of  the  six 
shanties  the  other  inmates  competed  for  the  privi- 
lege of  occupying  it.  To  move  into  it,  however, 
was  a  reward  of  merit,  and  the  best  behaved,  most 
cleanly  inmates  were  chosen  to  receive  the  favor. 

A  very  similar  plan  to  the  above,  except  that  it 
was  deliberately  adopted  and  the  cottages  were 
built  and  equipped  for  the  purpose,  is  to  be  found 
in  certain  English  almshouses  (workhouses).  In 
one  of  these,  all  the  inmates  are  divided  into  four 
classes  and  their  treatment  varies  accordingly. 
The  classifications  are  based  on  the  owner's  past 
life,  rather  than  upon  his  present  character  and 
habits,  although  these  are  taken  into  account  and 
may  in  some  instances  lead  to  a  re-classification.* 

It  will  be  gravely  questioned  whether  a  rigid 
classification  of  the  kind  would  be  suitable  to  our 

*  See  section  on  Cottage  Homes  in  Appendix  VII,  page  183. 

68 


THE    INMATES 

American  ideafof  equality.  Yet  there  is  no  doubt 
that  such  a  modified  division  into  classes  as  is 
suggested  by  the  above  account  of  what  was  done 
in  Hamilton  County,  Indiana,  might  be  properly 
adopted.  In  fact,  something  of  the  kind  is  prac- 
ticed in  many  of  the  smaller' almshouses. 

While  it  is  not  often  practicable  to  lodge  the 
better  grade  of  inmates  in  individual  cottages, 
since  these  are  not  to  be  found,  it  is  quite  feasible 
to  group  them  together  at  the  tables  in  the  dining 
room,  to  have  different  sitting  rooms  and  assign 
places  to  them  there,  and  in  other  ways  relieve 
them  of  the  affliction  of  uncongenial  and  coarse 
or  vicious  association. 

Precise  methods  of  affecting  social  classification 
cannot  be  given  here.  The  important  thing  is 
to  have  the  justice  as  well  as  the  kindness  of  the 
method  pointed  out,  and  then  the  management  of 
each  institution  can  work  out  the  details  for  its 
own  people  according  to  their  several  needs.* 


RULES 

Many  zealous  superintendents,  especially  newly 
appointed  ones,  anxious  to  develop  an  improved 
administration,  make  the  mistake  of  enacting  and 
printing  a  long  and  elaborate  code  of  rules  for  the 
government  of  an  almshouse.     In  general  it  may 

*  See  Appendix  VII,  p.  i8i,  extract  from  the  British  Royal  Com- 
mission Report;  also  paper  on  the  Firvale  Union  Cottage  Homes, 
by  Mrs.  Alice  N.  Lincoln  of  Boston,  p.  183. 

69 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

be  maintained  that  the  shortest  *de  is  the  best 
code.*  The  late  Dr.  Richard  Gundry,  superintend- 
ent of  the  Maryland  Hospital  for  the  Insane,  used 
to  declare  that  the  one,  all-suificient  rule  of  an 
institution  was  the  apostolic  maxim,  "Let  every- 
thing be  done  decently  and  in  order,"  but  this 
would  appear  to  be  carrying  brevity  to  an 
extreme. 

A  few  general  rules  in  regard  to  remaining  on 
the  premises;  hours  of  rising,  retiring,  and  meals; 
bathing  and  cleanliness  of  person,  of  clothing,  and 
of  premises;  labor,  indoor  and  outdoor;  proper 
use  of  rooms,  at  proper  hours;  smoking  and  spit- 
ting; may  wisely  be  adopted  and  posted  in  one  or 
two  places  in  the  halls  and  sitting  rooms. 

In  most  almshouses  inmates  will  be  found  of  such 
varying  classes  and  degrees  of  health  and  vigor 
that  it  is  diificult  to  make  rules  of  universal  applica- 
tion. It  is  well,  therefore,  to  frame  them  so  as  to 
allow,  or  call  for,  decisions  by  the  superintendent. 
For  example,  the  rule  as  to  going  to  bed  may  be 
stated:  "The  inmates  will  retire  and  rise  at  such 
hours  as  may  be  ordered  by  the  Superintendent,  in 
accordance  with  their  physical  condition  and  their 
employment."  The  rule  about  work  may  read: 
"  Every  inmate  will  be  expected  to  do  the  work 
assigned  for  him  or  her,  by  the  Superintendent  or 
his  assistants,  the  work  assigned  to  be  appropriate 
to  the  inmate's  physical  and  mental  condition." 

*  See  remarks  on  enforcing  rules,  in  Advice  to  a  Superintendent, 
Appendix  X,  page  215. 

70 


THE    INMATES 

The  rule  aboutBaving  the  premises:  "No  inmate 
may  leave  the  premises  temporarily  without  per- 
mission from  the  Superintendent.  Leaving  without 
permission  is  regarded  as  taking  a  discharge  and 
the  person  cannot  be  re-admitted  without  a  new 
order  from  the  Overseer  or  other  officer  having 
authority  to  admit/'  The  rule  as  to  smoking 
depends  upon  whether  a  special  smoking  room  is 
provided,  and  might  read:  "No  person  is  allowed 
to  smoke  on  the  premises,  except  in  the  room 
provided  for  the  purpose,  or  outside  the  house,  but 
not  within  lOO  feet  of  the  barn  or  stable."  The 
rule  as  to  bathing:  "Every  inmate  shall  take  a 
full  bath  at  the  hour  appointed  by  the  Superinten- 
dent or  Matron,  but  not  less  often  than  once  a 
week."  Similar  rules  may  be  enacted  to  cover 
other  points  of  management;  and  as  a  law  without 
a  penalty  is  of  little  value,  a  final  rule  of  the  code 
might  read:  "It  is  the  duty  of  the  Superintendent 
to  control  the  institution  and  to  maintain  good 
order  and  proper  conduct  throughout.  He  is 
responsible  for  the  observance  of  the  above  rules 
and  also  of  such  other  directions  as  he  may  find 
necessary  to  give  from  time  to  time.  Inmates 
refusing  obedience  may  be  punished  by  temporary 
deprivations  (except  of  the  necessaries  of  life),  or  by 
temporary  seclusion,  or  otherwise,  in  the  judgment 
of  the  Superintendent.  Any  inmate  showing  vio- 
lence to  another  inmate  or  gross  disrespect  to  the 
Superintendent  or  his  assistants,  shall  be  liable  to 
be  secluded  or  discharged." 

71 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

Any  code  of  rules  which  is  aa^)ted  should  be 
carefully  considered  by  the  governing  board  (the 
county  commissioners  or  board  of  supervisors,  as 
the  case  may  be),  and  when  adopted  should  be 
signed  by  the  board,  as  well  as  by  the  superin- 
tendent, and  a  statement  to  that  effect  should  be 
printed  below  the  rules.  The  statement  might 
read  as  follows : 

"The  above  code  of  rules  for  the  Washington  County  (or 
town)  Almshouse  has  been  read  and  approved  by  the  under- 
signed 

(Signed  by  each  member)  Richard  Roe 

John  Doe 
Abraham  Manson 
Board  of  Commissioners,  Washington  County,  Dated  May 
I,  1911. 

DISCIPLINE 

In  considering  the  necessity  of  good  order  it  must 
always  be  remembered  that  it  is  much  easier  to 
adapt  the  almshouse  to  the  ideas  of  the  paupers 
than  to  adapt  the  paupers  to  the  standards  that 
an  almshouse  ought  to  maintain.  Hence  the 
value  of  good  discipline,  which  does  not  mean 
severity,  but  does  mean  comfort,  order,  and  se- 
renity for  administration  and  inmates. 

For  gross  insubordination  or  for  any  other  mis- 
behavior which  threatens  the  good  order  of  the 
institution  and  the  comfort  of  the  inmates,  dis- 
charge, after  sufficient  warning  and  the  failure 
of  milder  methods,  should  be  the  penalty.  This  does 

72 


THE    INMATES 

not  apply  to  me  insane  or  feeble-minded  who, 
no  matter  what  happens,  must  be  otherwise  con- 
trolled. 

The  only  punishment  which  ought  ever  to  be 
inflicted  in  an  almshouse  is  a  temporary  depriva- 
tion of  some  privilege,*  or  of  some  of  the  less 
necessary  portion  of  the  dietary  (in  no  case  should 
the  traditionary  "bread  and  water"  diet  be 
imposed),  or  by  temporary  seclusion  under  lock 
and  key.  Every  case  of  discipline  of  the  kind 
.should  be  entered  on  the  daily  journal,  with  the 
particulars  of  the  offense  and  the  names  of  wit- 
nesses who  may  be  called  if  necessary.  This 
record  should  be  read  and  the  case  looked  into,  if 
it  appears  necessary,  by  the  commissioner  or 
supervisor  who  has  special  charge  of  the  almshouse, 
at  his  next  visit,  and  his  approval  or  disapproval 
should  be  written  in  ink  on  the  face  of  the  record 
and  signed.  In  states  having  boards  of  state 
charities  the  daily  journal  should  always  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  inspector  of  that  board  at  the  time 
of  his  annual  visit,  or  on  his  request,  at  any  time. 

COMPLAINTS 

In  all  institutions,  no  matter  how  well  con- 
ducted, where  inmates  are  feeble,  old,  or  defective, 

*  It  is  practically  impossible  to  prevent  the  use  of  tobacco  in  an 
almshouse,  and  to  deprive  people  who  have  been  accustomed  to  using 
it  for  many  years  is  severe  if  not  cruel.  Consequently,  many  super- 
intendents make  an  effective  means  of  discipline  out  of  their  inmates' 
weakness  in  this  direction,  giving  it  as  a  reward  or  refusing  it  as  a 
punishment. 

73 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

a  certain  amount  of  complaint  is  Bi*mal  and  to  be 
expected.  To  listen  to  such  complaints  with 
kindness  and  courtesy,  and  a  degree  of  sympathy; 
to  correct  any  error,  no  matter  how  slight;  to 
explain  the  impossibility  of  consenting  to  unreason- 
able requests,  and  to  grant  all  that  are  reason- 
able, is  a  part  of  the  business  of  the  institution, 
devolving  first  upon  the  superintendent  and, 
second,  upon  the  governing  board.  A  little  time 
and  effort  so  used  is  very  well  spent,  and  must  not 
in  any  case  be  considered  a  reflection  upon  the 
administration.  There  are  two  possible  conditions 
as  to  complaints  where  grave  mismanagement  is 
to  be  feared ;  namely,  when  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
complaint  and  when  there  is  none  at  all.  The 
latter  case  is  almost  certain  evidence  of  a  rule  of 
fear,  which  is  much  to  be  deplored. 

Any  inmate,  therefore,  wishing  to  complain  of 
his  treatment  should  be  freely  allowed  to  do  so,  and 
the  governing  board  should  most  strictly  reprehend 
any  attempt  by  a  superintendent  to  prevent  an 
inmate's  making  a  complaint,  no  matter  how  ill- 
founded  or  frivolous  it  may  be. 


OCCUPATION  AND  LABOR 

There  is  no  more  important  part  of  almshouse 
administration  than  the  employment  of  the 
inmates.  While  their  labor  in  many  cases  has 
little  cash  value,  it  is  none  the  less  valuable  for 
other  reasons. 

74 


>  *  t  • 


>  1  >* 


THE    INMATES 

It  may  be  stated  as  a  rule  to  which  there  is  no 
exception  that  every  inmate,  except  the  bed-ridden 
ones,  should  have  some  employment  during  a  part 
of  every  day,  and  the  more  fully  the  usual  working 
hours  are  occupied  the  better.*  All  able-bodied 
inmates  who  are  not  violently  insane  should  be 
given  a  full  day's  work  daily  in  the  house  or  out- 
doors. Usually  the  men  are  employed  on  the 
farm,  in  the  garden,  barn,  and  stable,  the  roads, 
and  at  the  fences.  Women  work  in  the  kitchen, 
laundry,  sewing  room,  etc.  There  are,  however, 
certain  outdoor  occupations  which  are  admirably 
suited  for  women.  Among  these  may  be  men- 
tioned the  fmer  parts  of  kitchen  gardening,  such  as 
weeding,  hoeing,  setting  out  plants;  care  of  the 
flower  garden  in  general;  small  fruit  culture;  the 
care  of  chickens  and  young  live  stock.  While  the 
majority  of  women  inmates  prefer  the  domestic 
tasks  of  the  house,  a  few  will  occasionally  be  found 
who  are  much  happier  as  well  as  healthier  when 
given  outdoor  labor  suited  to  their  strength; 
and  conversely,  among  the  defective  men  in  the 
almshouse  will  often  be  found  some  who  will  do 
the  domestic  much  better  than  the  outdoor  work. 
The  hardest  work  of  the  laundry,  especially  if 
machinery  is  used,  should  be  done  by  men,  not  by 

*  Certain  persons  who  seek  the  almshouse  as  a  place  of  ease  where 
they  may  live  well  without  work,  when  they  find  they  have  to  work 
regularly,  obey  rules,  and  practice  personal  cleanliness,  will  not  re- 
main. Of  course  such  people  should  not  be  given  admission  in  the 
first  instance,  but,  especially  in  severe  weather,  an  overseer  of  the  poor 
inclines  to  err,  if  at  all,  on  the  side  of  mercy,  and  will  usually  give  an 
applicant  concerning  whom  he  is  uncertain,  the  benefit  of  the  doubt, 

75 


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77 


\ami 


THE    INMATES 

women.  All  the  care  of  the  men's  dormitories  and 
day  rooms  should  be  taken  by  the  men  them- 
selves. Occasionally  men  are  found  who  like  to 
sew  and  knit. 

In  assigning  tasks  it  is  well,  as  far  as  possible, 
to  make  them  regular  and  permanent.  To  cut 
and  sew  carpet  rags  is  within  the  power  of  many 
an  old  woman  who  might  perhaps  be  able  to  do 
nothing  else,  and  if  this  is  assigned  to  her  as  a 
regular  duty  and  some  account  is  taken  of  what 
she  does  and  some  credit  given  her,  it  will  conduce 
to  her  satisfaction.  Several  cases  from  a  Massa- 
chusetts almshouse  will  illustrate  this  point.  An 
old  woman  of  ninety  who  cannot  stand  to  wash 
dishes,  sits  and  wipes  them.  This  is  her  task 
three  times  daily.  She  does  it  cheerfully  and  feels 
that  she  is  doing  her  share  and  is  much  happier 
for  it.  A  crippled  man  who  is  unable  to  walk,  or 
even  stand,  whittles  out  butchers'  skewers  which 
are  sold  for  a  trifle  for  his  benefit.  A  partly 
crippled  feeble-minded  man  divides  his  time  be- 
tween the  lawn  and  the  greenhouse.  In  summer 
he  very  slowly,  but  regularly,  runs  the  lawn 
mower;  in  winter  he  sits  in  the  greenhouse  and 
watches  the  thermometer,  giving  prompt  notice 
when  it  goes  too  high  or  too  low. 

Of  course  the  routine  domestic  work  of  the  house, 
and  the  work  of  the  farm  and  the  garden,  feeding 
the  stock,  etc.,  must  be  provided  for,  and  can 
usually  all  be  assigned  as  regular  tasks  to  specially 
appointed  inmates.     This  will  occupy  a  fair  pro- 

79 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

portion  of  the  inmates'  time;  but  in  most  alms- 
houses there  will  be  a  good  deal  of  other  labor 
available  which  must  be  employed.  Rag  carpets, 
pieced  quilts,  mats,  basket  work  and  a  great 
many  other  manual  occupations  are  available. 
Some  most  astonishing  results  have  been  attained 
with  insane  people,  whose  violence  has  been  moder- 
ated and  who  have  been  made  comparatively  easy 
to  manage  after  they  have  been  taught  an  occupa- 
tion like  basketry  or  embroidery  and  allowed  to 
practice  it.  No  one  should  be  neglected  in  the 
matter  of  assigning  occupation,  because  of  mental 
or  bodily  defect.* 

If  it  is  not  feasible  to  hire  an  assistant  as  a 
permanent  member  of  the  staff  who  is  competent 
to  teach  the  inmates  these  various  occupations,  it 
is  nearly  always  possible  to  engage  an  instructor 
for  a  period  of  a  few  weeks,  during  which  period 
she  can  teach  the  inmates  and  also  instruct  one 
of  the  employes  who  can  act  as  teacher  for  a  short 
time  each  day  after  the  manual  instructor  has  gone. 

The  advantage  of  regular  work  for  everybody 
in  the  institution  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
cash  value  of  the  work  itself.  Yet  some  of  the 
inmates  of  the  almshouse,  with  the  right  kind  of 
oversight  and  control,  can  be  made  to  fully  earn 
their  own  support.  It  is  fair  to  use  any  reasonable 
means  to  induce  such  inmates  to  exert  themselves 
and  to  do  as  much  as  is  possible,  consistent  with 
their   health.     A   little   experience   will   show   a 

*  See  Appendix  XI,  page  219,  Occupations  for  Defectives. 
80 


THE    INMATES 

superintendent  who  is  in  earnest  about  this 
important  department  of  administration,  how  to 
manage  each  person  in  order  to  get  the  best 
results.  It  is  rare,  indeed,  that  the  method  of 
driving  will  be  effective,  but  kindly  leading  will 
seldom  fail.  There  is  absolutely  no  excuse  for  the 
conditions  which  exist  in  some  of  the  large  alms- 
houses in  which  one  may  see  hundreds  of  partly 
able-bodied  men  and  women,  sitting  in  dull, 
hopeless  idleness,  a  burden  to  themselves  as  they 
are  to  the  taxpayer. 


THE  BATH  AND  PERSONAL  CLEANLINESS 

People  habituated  to  the  comfort  of  a  clean  skin 
may  be  surprised  to  learn  that  one  of  the  things 
most  difficult  to  enforce  in  an  almshouse  is  a 
reasonable  amount  of  bathing.*  It  is  at  once 
apparent  that  the  necessity  of  the  bath  is  even 
greater  in  an  institution  where  many  people  live 
close  together  than  it  is  in  houses  where  few  people 
live.  At  the  same  time  it  is  only  by  very  positive 
regulations,  and  firmness  in  enforcing  them,  that 
personal  cleanliness  can  be  maintained. 

It  is  necessary  that  the  accommodations  for 
bathing  should  be  ample  and  convenient.  When 
the  bathtub,  as  sometimes  happens,  is  stuck  off 
in  some  dark,  awkward  corner,  or  perhaps  in  an 

*  See  Appendix  XII,  page  221,  giving  an  account  of  an  actual  in- 
stance which  occurred  in  a  county  almshouse  in  a  central  western 
state. 

6  81 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

outhouse  detached  from  the  main  building;  when 
water  must  be  heated  on  a  stove,  and  carried  in 
buckets  to  the  bathtub  and  emptied  in  the  same 
laborious  manner,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  super- 
intendent has  diificulty  in  enforcing  the  regular 
full  bath.*  The  bathroom  should  by  all  means  be 
on  the  dormitory  floor,  and  open  off  the  bedroom 
if  possible,  in  which  case,  however,  there  should 
be  another  door  into  the  hall  or  passageway. 
The  inmates  should  be  allowed  as  far  as  possible 
to  bathe  in  the  evening  before  retiring.  It  is  a 
good  plan  to  let  them  undress  in  the  bathroom, 
leaving  their  soiled  underwear  there  and  receiving 
their  clean  nightgowns;  also  to  make  the  changes 
of  bedding  the  same  night.  Even  in  a  large 
institution  with  many  inmates  and  only  a  moderate 
number  of  bathtubs,  this  can  be  done  by  assigning 
certain  persons  stated  evenings  for  their  baths,  so 
that  a  third  or  a  fourth  part  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion will  be  bathed  upon  any  one  bathing  night. 
This  method  lessens  the  strain  on  the  hot-water 
equipment  by  dividing  it. 

To  bathe  more  than  one  inmate  in  the  same 
water  is  an  unsanitary  and  abominable  practice, 
and  no  exigency  should  be  allowed  to  justify  it. 
Better  give  each  man  his  clean  four  gallons  in  a 
bucket  than  bathe  four  men  in  the  same  sixteen 
or  twenty  gallons  in  a  bathtub. 

The  question  of  the  use  of  tub  baths  or  showers 
is  frequently   raised.     There   are   advantages   in 

*  See  Chapter  VI,  Management,  p.  113. 
82 


THE    INMATES 

both  systems.  The  shower  bath  is  decidedly  the 
most  sanitary.  It  is  difficult  to  insure  sufficient 
care  in  cleansing  the  bathtub  after  one  person  uses 
it  and  before  the  next.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
difficulty  of  mixing  the  hot  and  cold  water  for  a 
warm  shower,  without  an  expensive  apparatus,  is 
quite  serious.  There  is  one  very  simple  method, 
however,  which  can  easily  be  adopted.  That  is 
by  having  the  supply  to  the  shower  sufficient  for 
one  or  two  persons,  come  from  a  small  tank  placed 
immediately  above  it.  Let  this  tank  be  connected 
with  both  hot  and  cold  water  and  the  mixing  done 
for  each  bather,  or  for  each  two  or  three  bathers, 
and  then  the  supply  to  the  tank  shut  off.  Another 
advantage  of  the  shower  bath  is  that  it  takes  less 
water  and  less  equipment  for  the  same  amount  of 
service.  For  old  and  feeble  people  and,  usually 
speaking,  for  any  who  must  be  bathed  by  an  atten- 
dant, of  course  the  tub  bath  is  preferable.  In 
most  institutions  tub  baths  are  preferred  for  women 
and  showers  for  men,  but  there  is  really  very  little 
reason  for  this  difference. 

The  daily  attention  to  personal  cleanliness  is  as 
important  as  the  weekly  full  bath.  The  inmates 
should  be  expected  to  wash  hands  and  arms,  faces, 
ears,  and  necks  every  morning  before  breakfast 
and  every  evening  before  retiring;  and  their  hands 
before  meals.  Brushes  and  combs  should  be 
provided  and  their  use  enforced.  Shoes  should  be 
brushed  and  blackened.  The  self-respect  that 
comes  with  personal  cleanliness  and  neatness  is  of 

83 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 


even  greater  value  than  the  physical  effect.  As 
said  in  the  section  on  methods  in  the  dining  room, 
that  room  is  the  most  available  place  to  insist  upon 
these  decent  and  sanitary  requirements. 


84 


T 


CHAPTER  VI 
MANAGEMENT 

INSTITUTION  RECORDS 

HE  In  and  Out  Book,  or  Register  of 
Admissions  AND  Discharges.  This  should 
be  kept  in  a  permanent  book  ruled  in 
columns  and  with  wide  pages  so  that  each  entry 
can  be,  as  far  as  possible,  on  one  line.  It  should 
show  for  each  person  received,  admission  number, 
name  (with  surname  first),  date  of  admission, 
township  from  which  inmate  comes,  name  of 
admitting  officer,  age,  conjugal  condition  (i.  e. 
single,  married,  widowed,  or  divorced);  brief 
description  (color  of  eyes,  hair,  etc.,  height  and 
weight);  physical  condition  (fitness  for  labor, 
able-bodied,  crippled,  feeble);  mental  condition 
(sound  mind,  feeble-minded,  epileptic,  insane); 
date  of  previous  admittance,  if  any  known;  and 
remarks.  In  the  "remarks''  column  should  be 
entered  any  useful  item  of  family  history,  especially 
if  a  relative  has  been  an  inmate  at  any  time  or  is 
so  at  present.  The  column  should  be  wide  enough 
to  give  places  for  entries  of  leave  of  absence  granted, 
sickness,  and  other  important  items,  which  may 
be  copied  into  the  record  from  the  daily  journal. 

85 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

In  beginning  such  an  admission  record  in  an 
almshouse  where  it  has  not  previously  been  kept, 
the  best  plan  is  to  enter  in  alphabetical  order, 
inmates  present  when  the  record  begins,  giving 
the  date  of  the  commencement  of  the  record,  and 
numbering  them  in  the  same  order.  All  subse- 
quent admissions  must  be  entered  in  numerical 
order,  not  alphabetically.  In  the  case  of  a  large 
institution  an  alphabetical  card  index  will  be 
found  a  very  useful  addition  to  this  record.  If  the 
institution  contains  many  inmates  it  is  economy  of 
labor  and  time  to  let  the  In  and  Out  Book  show 
simply  the  name  and  number,  and  date  of  recep- 
tion and  discharge,  and  to  keep  all  the  particulars 
upon  a  card  catalog,  one  card  for  each  inmate. 
This  is  best  kept  in  alphabetical  order,  in  a  proper 
file,  with  appropriate  places  for  the  cards  of  those 
dismissed,  and  those  absent  on  leave.  The  cards 
in  the  file  then  always  show  the  exact  number  pres- 
ent in  the  institution.* 

The  advantages  of  the  card  system  of  record  are 
many  and  obvious.  It  is  the  quickest  and  most 
elastic  system;  the  cards  never  require  re-writing. 
Properly  kept  it  is  always  in  good  order,  and  lends 
itself  to  any  desired  amount  of  detail.  It  has 
one  disadvantage  as  compared  with  the  book 
system,  however,  which  is  the  necessity  of  having 
the  cards  always  in  perfect  order.  A  name  in  a 
book,  out  of  proper  order,  will  be  noticed  in  looking 

*  In  Appendix  XVI 1 1,  p.  244,  will  be  found  specimens  of  both 
book  and  card  records  of  the  kinds  described. 

86 


MANAGEMENT 

over  the  record,  or  can  readily  be  found,  but  a  card 
out  of  its  place  is  practically  lost. 

It  is  proper  to  preserve  the  admission  orders 
the  inmates  bring  in,  as  necessity  often  arises  for 
referring  to  them.  The  simplest  and  safest  way 
is  to  paste  them  in  a  scrap  book  in  their  order  of 
date,  doing  this  as  soon  as  the  inmate's  name  is 
entered  on  the  In  and  Out  Book. 

The  Daily  Journal.  Besides  the  register  of 
admissions  and  discharges,  a  well-conducted  alms- 
house will  keep  a  daily  journal  in  a  separate  book. 
Here  should  be  entered  every  important  event 
that  occurs.  Especially  important  are  the  entries 
of  sickness  of  inmates,  the  time  of  the  first  com- 
plaint, the  day  and  hour  when  the  doctor  is  notified 
to  call  (if  he  does  not  make  a  daily  medical  visit, 
or  if  the  occasion  seems  to  require  a  special  one), 
and  the  hour  of  his  arrival.  In  minor  cases  where 
simple  home  remedies  are  administered,  the  daily 
journal  should  show  the  fact.  Visits  by  friends 
of  inmates,  by  public  officials,  etc.,  should  appear 
on  the  daily  journal.  If  the  superintendent,  or 
one  of  the  employes,  leaves  the  premises  to  be 
gone  over  night,  the  hour  of  leaving  and  return 
should  be  entered,  also  leave  of  absence  of  an 
inmate,  and  the  day  and  hour  of  his  return. 

In  this  book  will  be  found  the  record  of  farm- 
ing and  gardening  operations;  such  as,  the  date 
of  commencing  to  plow  for  wheat  or  corn,  the 
completion  of  the  plowing,  date  of  seeding,  etc., 
weather  conditions  about  harvest  time,  and  date 

87 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

of  thrashing;  also  the  yield  of  the  grain  field  and 
potato  crop,  number  of  winter  cabbages  pitted 
and  of  barrels  of  sour  kraut  made,  the  daily  yield 
of  the  garden  and  dairy,  the  quantity  of  butter 
at  each  tri-weekly  churning,  the  butchering  of 
hogs,  with  the  number  killed  and  the  weight, 
and  other  items  of  farm  results. 

Other  entries  will  include  the  employment  of 
assistants,  with  the  wages  to  be  paid,  time  of 
beginning  work  and  date  of  discharge,  if  it  occurs; 
any-  extra  help  hired  temporarily,  and  the  amount 
of  compensation.  This  journal  should  show  details 
of  all  cash  transactions  of  any  kind;  if  any  sales 
are  made,  the  name  of  the  person  making  the 
purchase,  the  date  and  amount  of  money  received 
and  the  date  when  this  was  turned  over  to  the 
county  auditor  or  treasurer. 

If  the  journal  is  entered  up  every  day  it  furnishes 
an  invaluable  record  in  case  of  trouble  of  any  kind. 
A  journal  which  bears  evidence  of  daily  use  will 
usually  be  accepted  in  a  court  of  law  as  evidence  of 
the  facts  stated.  To  have  this  value  it  must  be 
used  regularly.  The  important  thing  is  not  neat- 
ness, nor  good  penmanship,  but  regularity  of  daily 
entries.  Like  the  counter-book  of  the  grocery, 
with  its  hasty  entries  at  the  time  of  selling,  in 
case  of  a  disputed  account  this  is  of  much  more 
service  in  court  than  the  ledger  which  is  written 
up  later.     It  has  the  value  of  an  original  record. 


MANAGEMENT 


PURCHASE  OF  SUPPLIES 


For  all  except  the  very  smallest  almshouses, 
supplies  should  be  purchased  upon  public  competi- 
tive bids.  It  is  probably  true  that  a  thoroughly 
competent  steward,  knowing  the  markets  and 
well-informed  as  to  values  of  every  kind,  taking 
advantage  of  every  bargain  that  might  be  offered, 
could  buy  supplies  as  they  are  needed  as  cheaply, 
or  even  more  cheaply,  than  they  can  be  purchased 
by  competitive  bids.*  Such  stewards  will  not 
often,  however,  be  found  in  the  employ  of  the 
county  almshouse.  Usually  a  superintendent 
must  himself  act  as  steward  and  he  will  certainly 
be  too  busy  to  watch  the  markets  very  closely. 
The  advantages  of  public  competition  are,  more- 
over, so  great  as  to  more  than  overbalance  any 
slight  gain  of  immediate  cheapness.  The  competi- 
tive method  is  the  best  safeguard  against  collusion 
and  also  against  unjust  aspersion.  While  it  does 
not  offer  the  advantages  of  special  bargains,  it  does, 
properly  conducted,  insure  all  goods  being  bought 
at  a  regular,  fair  price. 

In  competitive  purchasing  for  goods  to  be 
delivered  as  needed,  the  best  results  are  gained  by 
short  time  contracts.  The  longer  time  the  con- 
tract has  to  run,  the  more  chance  there  is  of  a  rising 
market,  against  which  the  bidder  must  provide  in 
his  price.     On  the  other  hand,  the  contract  must 

*  See  method  of  purchase  of  supplies,  and  sample  requisition  in 
Appendices  V  and  XI II,  pp.  163  and  223. 

89 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

be  for  a  reasonably  large  amount  to  be  attractive 
to  the  larger  dealers,  therefore  the  amounts  speci- 
fied should  be  as  large  as  are  economically  advis- 
able. 

In  buying  flour,  sugar,  coffee,  soap,  domestic 
dry  goods  and  other  goods  of  which  there  is  no 
loss  by  keeping,  it  is  well  to  purchase  and  store  a 
year's  supply  at  one  time.  Certain  of  these  articles, 
as,  for  example,  green  coffee  and  soap,  improve  in 
storage.  A  year's  supply  will  appeal  to  the  whole- 
salers and  good  prices  will  be  made.  For  coal 
also  it  is  well  to  contract  yearly,  even  though  the 
storage  capacity  is  limited  and  deliveries  must  be 
had  monthly  or  quarterly.  Milk,  where  this  is  not 
produced  in  the  institution's  own  dairy,  should  be 
purchased  on  yearly  contracts  so  as  to  justify  the 
contract  dairyman  in  increasing  his  herd  when 
necessary. 

For  many  other  goods  quarterly  contracts  are 
better.  This  is  especially  true  of  meats  of  all 
kinds  and,  for  an  institution  of  one  hundred 
inmates  or  less,  for  butter  and  eggs.  For  larger 
institutions,  contracts  for  perishable  things  like 
butter  and  eggs  should  be  made  monthly  and 
deliveries  had  weekly  or  as  required. 

In  all  cases  contracts  should  be  awarded  on  a 
regular  day,  usually  the  second  or  third  day  of  the 
meeting  of  commissioners  or  supervisors,  as  the 
case  may  be.  The  specifications  should  always  be 
ready  two  weeks  in  advance  and  should  be  open 
to  inspection  in   some  conspicuous  place  to  all 

90 


MANAGEMENT 

prospective  bidders  and  other  interested  persons. 
Advertisements  should  appear  in  one  or  two 
widely  circulated  newspapers  that  specifications 
may  be  seen  and  forms  for  bids  obtained  at  the 
court  house  in  the  office  of  the  auditor  or  some 
other  public  official.  The  management  should 
require  the  bids  to  be  upon  printed  forms  furnished 
by  them,  and  the  terms  and  conditions  should  be 
plainly  printed  at  the  head  of  the  form.*  The 
commissioners  should  carefully  avoid  binding 
themselves  to  accept  the  lowest  or  any  tender. 
It  is  also  highly  advisable  to  accept  bids  by  items 
and  not  in  block.  It  is  usually  necessary  to  ask 
for  bids  on  a  specified  amount,  less  or  more,  as 
may  be  necessary;  otherwise  there  will  always 
be  the  danger  of  running  short  before  the  end  of 
the  term  which  the  supply  should  cover,  so  necessi- 
tating purchase  at  a  probably  higher  price.  When 
bids  are  accepted  in  block  with  this  proviso  it  is  a 
very  simple  matter  to  organize  a  collusion  between 
the  store  keeper  or  steward  and  the  dealer,  by 
which  an  apparently  lower  contract  will  turn  out 
to  be  really  higher  than  some  others  which  were 
apparently  higher  in  the  first  instance. 

There  are  several  dangers  to  be  guarded  against 
in  purchasing  on  competitive  bids.  The  first  and 
most  common  is  that  of  merchants  delivering  goods 
of  a  lower  quality  than  the  contract  calls  for.  This 
is  to  be  met  by,  first,  as  far  as  possible  calling  for 
goods  of  unmistakable  standard  make  and  quality, 

*  See  Appendix  XIII,  page  223 . 

9» 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

and,  second,  by  constant  watchfulness  on  the  part 
of  the  officer  who  receives  the  articles.  Another  is 
that  of  collusion  between  the  merchant  and  store 
keeper  or  steward  of  the  institution  when  contracts 
are  awarded  in  block,  above  alluded  to,  by  which 
the  specifications  are  made  to  call  for  a  smaller 
quantity  of  certain  goods  and  a  larger  quantity  of 
other  goods  than  will  be  actually  required.  Cor- 
rect information  being  given  by  the  almshouse 
store  keeper  to  the  merchant,  as  to  the  actual 
quantities  which  will  be  required,  enables  the 
latter  to  bid  a  higher  price  on  the  one  and  a  lower 
price  on  the  other,  thus  really  increasing  the  cost 
of  the  articles  when  actually  purchased.  This 
danger  is  obviated  when  all  awards  are  made  by 
items.  Another  kind  of  collusion  may  arise 
through  an  understanding  between  important 
bidders,  so  that  there  will  be  no  real  competition. 
This  must  be  guarded  against  by  watchfulness 
and  a  proviso  that  the  purchasing  board  or  com- 
mittee does  not  bind  itself  to  accept  any  bid;  and 
then,  when  all  bids  on  a  certain  article  are  appar- 
ently too  high,  by  instructing  the  steward  or  super- 
intendent to  buy  at  the  best  price  he  can  obtain  in 
the  open  market,  provided  that  that  is  not  higher 
than  the  lowest  bid  received. 

The  best  safeguard  of  the  competitive  system, 
however,  is  that  of  publicity.  Every  bid,  both 
those  accepted  and  those  rejected,  should  be  on  file 
and  easily  accessible  for  inspection  by  any  inter- 
ested person.    When  this  is  done  and  the  institution 

92 


MANAGEMENT 

has  established  its  reputation  for  being  desirous 
of  buying  the  best  goods  at  the  lowest  prices,  with- 
out favoritism  to  any  one,  merchants  promptly 
fall  into  line  and  deal  with  it  on  honorable  business 
principles.  The  'popular  satisfaction  that  arises 
as  soon  as  this  is  generally  understood  is  an 
extremely  valuable  asset  to  the  administration. 

The  way  to  get  a  competitive  system  of  purchase 
known  and  popular  is  by  the  help  of  the  press. 
As  soon  as  it  is  established  the  newspapers  should 
be  asked  to  send  reporters  to  watch  its  operation. 
They  should  also  be  invited  to  inspect  the  accepted 
and  rejected  bids  on  file  at  any  time  they  wish, 
and  when  they  accept  this  invitation  no  questions 
should  be  asked  as  to  the  object  of  their  inspection; 
the  bids  should  be  immediately  shown  to  them  on 
request. 

The  method  of  purchase  advocated  above  may 
seem  a  little  complicated  at  first  to  people  who  are 
not  accustomed  to  business  methods,  but  a  very 
little  experience  will  soon  do  away  with  all  the 
apparent  difficulty,  and  no  honest  administration 
which  has  conducted  this  part  of  its  business  upon 
the  competitive  plan  for  a  few  months  will  ever 
desire  to  go  back  to  the  old-fashioned  method  of 
purchase. 

THE  STORE  ROOM  AND  STORE  KEEPER 

In  a  large  institution  it  will  be  necessary  to  have 
one  or  more  persons  giving  their  whole  time  to  the 

93 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

care  of  this  room  and  its  books,  and  the  issue  of 
supphes  from  it.  In  a  small  institution  where  the 
business  does  not  need  one  person's  whole  time 
it  is,  however,  equally  desirable  that  the  stores 
should  be  issued  by  one  person  only  and  that  he 
alone  should  have  the  keys  of  the  store  room. 

The  financial  loss  of  poor  administration  usually 
occurs  through  many  small  leakages,  rarely  through 
a  few  large  ones.  A  well  kept  store  room  is  the 
best  place  to  detect  and  stop  institution  leaks  of 
almost  every  kind.  Here  accurate  and  persistent 
method  is  required.  Just  as  no  man  ever  began 
to  keep  a  careful  financial  record  of  his  personal 
expenditure  without  at  least  attempting  retrench- 
ment, so  a  well  kept  store  room  and  store  room 
ledger  show  inevitably  where  economy  may  be 
effected  in  institution  expenditure. 

It  will  be  found,  for  instance,  that  one  depart- 
ment with  no  more  floor  space  will  be  using  twice 
as  much  scrubbing  soap,  soda,  and  other  cleansers 
as  another  department.  Brooms  will  be  seen  to 
last  half  as  long  again  in  one  department  as  in 
another.  In  one  department  bed  linen  mysteri- 
ously disappears  and  must  be  replaced.  The  same 
is  true  sometimes  even  of  articles  of  furniture. 
Items  of  the  kind  do  not  show  in  a  few  days, 
but  in  a  few  weeks  or  months  the  store  room  ledger 
discloses  the  facts  that  lead  to  inquiry  and  correc- 
tion. 

The  important  duties  in  a  store  room  are  to 
keep  account  of  all  goods  received,  to  note  accu- 

94 


MANAGEMENT 

rately  their  quality  and  quantity,  to  keep  the  sup- 
ph'es  clean  and  in  good  order  with  every  item 
accessible  and  visible,  to  issue  all  goods  on  written 
orders  and  keep  account  of  those  so  issued,  and 
to  present  an  accurate  statement  when  required, 
for  any  period,  showing  goods  on  hand  at  the 
beginning,  amount  received,  amount  issued,  and 
amount  on  hand  at  the  end  of  the  period.  Certain 
goods  in  an  honestly  kept  store  room  will  always 
show  an  apparent  deficiency  owing  to  shrinkage 
by  drying  out  and  by  loss  in  weighing.  In  issuing 
articles  in  many  small  quantities,  the  constant 
turn  of  the  scale  will  in  itself  cause  a  loss  in  gross 
weight.  Loss  by  evaporation  is  noticeable  in 
some  sugars,  also  in  dried  fruits.  These  regular 
losses  should  be  understood  and  allowed  for. 
It  is  a  mistake  to  try  to  make  up  deficiencies,  so 
called,  by  giving  short  weight  when  the  stock 
appears  to  show  shortage. 

The  practice  of  issuing  supplies  only  on  written 
requisitions,  approved  by  the  superintendent  or 
some  one  acting  for  him,  is  one  of  the  essential 
details  of  store  keeping.  For  this  reason  the 
superintendent  should  never  himself  act  as  store 
keeper.  Even  in  the  smallest  almshouse  some 
employe  will  be  found  who  can  be  charged  with 
this  duty.  Another  important  detail  is  that  the 
store  room  should  be  kept  locked  except  for  a 
certain  period  of  the  day,  when  all  the  stores 
required  for  twenty-four  hours  should  be  issued. 
This  has  several  great  advantages  arising  out  of  it. 

95 


96 


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P¥^l 


E 

'Al- 


j/ooi^ yru   TtciMi^ 


m\ 


u 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

It  trains  all  people  requiring  stores  to  look  ahead. 
It  also  gives  plenty  of  time  for  consideration  of 
requests.  Exceptions  can  be  made  if  necessary, 
but  these  should  not  be  allowed  as  a  matter  of 
course,  or  they  will  occur  too  frequently. 

Under  control  of  the  store  keeper,  but  possibly 
handled  by  one  of  the  farm  help,  except  in  institu- 
tions large  enough  to  require  one  person's  whole 
time  as  store  keeper,  should  be  the  stores  of  vege- 
tables and  fruit  for  the  winter.  These  should 
never  be  put  into  the  room  that  contains  the  dry 
goods.  The  stock  of  smoked  meats  should  be 
kept  in  the  smokehouse,  except  pieces  actually  in 
cut,  and  the  canned  or  preserved  fruits  and  vege- 
tables in  the  store  room  or  in  a  cellar  adjoining  it. 
The  potatoes,  onions,  cabbages,  pumpkins,  kraut, 
etc.,  should  never  be  stored  in  a  cellar  under  the 
house  proper,  because  of  the  effluvium  which  is 
both  unpleasant  and  unsanitary.  If  possible  an 
over-ground,  frost-proof  cellar  should  be  built  for 
most  of  these.  They  should  be  issued  with  the 
same  care  as  marks  the  issuance  of  other  supplies 
and  the  same  method  of  store  bookkeeping  should 
be  used  as  with  supplies  that  are  purchased  in 
the  market. 

The  store  room  in  an  institution  should  be  well 
lighted  and  ventilated  and  easily  accessible.  The 
walls  should  be  of  brick  or  hard  plaster,  the  floors 
of  concrete,  smoothly  finished.  The  room  should 
be  finished  with  the  least  possible  amount  of  wood 
trimming  so  that  there  may  be  no  harbor  for  vermin. 

98 


MANAGEMENT 

An  appendage  of  the  store  room  should  be  a 
place  for  condemned  property.  All  articles  worn 
out  should  be  brought  back  to  the  store  room 
before  they  are  replaced,  and  nothing  should  be 
destroyed  except  after  inspection  by  the  superin- 
tendent or  matron.  Brooms  worn  out  for  sweep- 
ing are  useful  for  scrubbing,  but  they  should  go 
through  the  condemned  property  room  and  be 
re-issued.  Sheets,  the  centers  of  which  are  worn 
out,  can  be  used  for  many  purposes,  and  the  same 
is  true  of  many  other  articles.  But  in  all  cases 
it  is  true  economy  to  let  articles  follow  the  routine 
of  the  condemned  property  department  before 
being  used  for  other  than  their  original  purpose. 


FOOD  SUPPLY 

A  frequent  criticism  of  an  institution  is  found  in 
such  words  as  "a  plentiful  supply  of  good  food,  but 
poorly  cooked  and  badly  served."  Consequently 
one  of  the  most  important  departments  of  an 
almshouse  is  that  which  attends  to  its  dietary. 
This  should  be  simple,  but  wholesome  and  appetiz- 
ing, and  the  system  of  serving  such  that  the  food 
will  be  hot.  Appearance  has  a  great  deal  to  do 
with  stimulating  the  appetite,  and  a  neat  and 
cleanly  service  is  economical  as  v/ell  as  pleasant. 
It  is  always  well  to  make  out  daily  bills  of  fare 
for  one  or  two  weeks  ahead;  but  monotony  should 
be  avoided  by  frequent  changes  in  them  and  in  the 
days  on  which  certain  ones  recur.     Much  of  the  too 

99 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

frequent  dyspepsia  found  among  both  inmates 
and  employes  of  institutions,  is  due  to  lack  of 
variety  in  the  food  and  to  the  deadly  monotony 
which  often  characterizes  the  diet.  Repetition 
leads  to  dislike  even  of  good  food ;  ''good  digestion 
waits  on  appetite/'  but  often  fails  when  appetite  is 
not  present. 

Cereals  should  have  an  important  place  in  every 
institution  dietary,  and,  in  fact,  should  be  used  as 
frequently  and  in  as  great  abundance  as  they  will 
be  consumed.  Here  good  cooking  is  of  great 
importance.  Half-cooked  cereals  are  indigestible 
and  unattractive.  When  there  is  an  abundant 
milk  supply,  as  there  should  be  in  every  institution 
having  its  own  farm,  it  can  be  served  with  the 
cereal  foods  with  advantage.  That  best  of  all 
cereals,  oatmeal,  should  be  used  much  more  largely 
than  it  is  at  present  in  most  institutions.  On  the 
other  hand  it  is  impossible  to  drive  people  to  eat 
food  which  they  dislike,  or  to  which  they  are  not 
accustomed,  and  often  some  skill  will  be  required 
to  induce  people  to  eat,  and  to  accustom  them  to 
like,  really  wholesome  food. 

Vegetables  are  an  equally  essential  part  of  the 
dietary,  and  here  again  cooking  has  much  to  do 
with  success.  They  should  be  fresh  and  plentiful. 
Many  cooks  spoil  fresh  green  vegetables  by  over- 
boiling, which  makes  them  not  only  much  less 
palatable,  but  actually  less  digestible  and  less 
nutritious. 

In  an  institution  much  of  the  meat  must  inevi- 

100 


MANAGEMENT 

tably  be  cooked  in  the  form  of  soups  and  stews. 
These  are  both  convenient  and  nutritious  and 
with  proper  cooking,  can  be  made  quite  palatable. 
In  many  institutions,  however,  the  meat  stew  is 
always  the  same  and  is  served  so  often  that  people 
become  very  tired  of  it.  It  is,  however,  compara- 
tively easy  to  put  stew  upon  the  table  three  or 
four  times  a  week,  each  dish  being  quite  distinct 
from  every  other  in  flavor,  odor,  and  appearance, 
while  certain  elements  remain  the  same.  Take  for 
example,  first,  the  plain,  good,  old-fashioned  Irish 
stew,  made  of  meat,  onions,  and  potatoes,  with 
no  other  vegetables  allowed  in  it;  replace  the 
potatoes  with  rice  and  add  tomatoes,  slightly  in- 
creasing the  proportion  of  onions  and  pepper, 
and  you  have  an  excellent  Spanish  stew,  equally 
nutritious,  but  entirely  different  in  flavor.  Again 
leaving  out  the  potatoes,  use  flour  for  thickening, 
put  in  some  pickle  vinegar  and  chopped  up  pickles, 
add  carrots  and  turnips,  and  you  have  a  Hungarian 
goulash,  which  is  again  quite  different  both  in 
appearance  and  in  taste;  and  so  on  with  other 
combinations  which  take  no  more  work,  and  cost 
no  more  money,  but  simply  require  the  exercise 
of  brains. 

The  student  of  dietetics  knows  that  food  must 
be  varied  in  composition  and  contain  a  due  pro- 
portion of  the  elements  which  go  to  build  up  the 
human  body;  among  these  the  one  that  is  usually 
the  most  expensive  is  that  called  "protein." 
Fortunately  the  body  does  not  need  very  much  of 

lOI 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

this  element,  not  nearly  so  much  as  it  does  of  the 
elements  found  in  the  lower  priced  foods,  such  as 
potatoes,  bread,  etc.  The  articles  of  food  which 
are  richest  in  protein  are  usually  popular  as  well 
as  costly;  beef,  for  protein  content  and  popularity, 
being  the  easiest  to  use.  Beans,  which  are  cheap, 
are  still  richer  in  protein  than  meat  and  are  usually 
acceptable,  but  their  use  must  be  restricted,  for 
eaten  too  frequently  they  interfere  with  the  diges- 
tion. Codfish,  dried,  the  cheapest  source  of 
protein,  requires  care  in  preparation  and  in  some 
parts  of  the  country  is  very  unpopular.  To 
properly  nourish  the  inmates  of  an  institution  the 
food  put  on  the  table  must  not  merely  contain  the 
needed  variety  of  elements  but  must  be  actually 
eaten  and  digested. 

When  we  are  feeding  cattle  it  is  very  easy  to 
learn  how  to  compose  a  balanced  ration;  we  have 
only  to  write  to  almost  any  agricultural  or  dairy 
paper,  stating  what  food-stuffs  are  available,  and 
it  will  give  us  the  schedule  of  a  well  balanced  ration, 
so  that  we  can  be  fairly  certain  the  cattle  have 
just  the  food  elements  necessary  for  our  purpose 
whether  that  is  to  produce  milk  or  to  fatten  beef. 
The  balanced  ration  for  human  beings  is  just  as 
important,  but  it  is  much  more  difficult  to  com- 
pose satisfactorily.  Journals  devoted  to  human 
diet  are  neither  so  plenty  nor — comparatively — so 
well  equipped  to  give  us  this  information.  Besides 
which,  it  is  much  more  difficult  to  induce  people  to 
eat  the  right  proportion  of  the  different  foods  set 

I02 


MANAGEMENT 

before  them.  How  to  feed  people  in  such  a  way 
as  to  satisfy  their  appetite  and  keep  them  in  per- 
fect health  at  the  smallest  cost  and  serve  the  food 
in  an  attractive  way,  is  a  very  useful  and  interest- 
ing study.  In  a  large  institution  it  is  well  worth 
while  to  employ  a  trained  dietitian  for  the  pur- 
pose. In  the  ordinary  small  or  middle-sized  alms- 
houses the  matron  or  superintendent  must  give 
personal  attention  to  the  study  of  the  diet. 

The  food  for  the  sick  will  of  course  be  prescribed 
by  the  doctor,  or  if,  as  should  be  the  case  every- 
where, a  trained  nurse  is  employed,  will  be  one 
of  her  particular  cares.  There  will  always  be 
some  old  and  feeble  people  for  whom  the  regular 
diet  will  not  be  appropriate,  and  for  them  special 
food  should  be  prepared.  For  them,  as  for  the 
sick,  milk  and  eggs  can  be  freely  used. 


DRINKING  WATER 

An  important  aid  to  health  among  institution 
inmates  is  an  unlimited  and  convenient  supply  of 
pure  drinking  water,  which  should  be  easily 
accessible  at  all  times.  The  advantages  of  such  a 
supply  are  great.  While  few  people  will  drink  too 
much  water  between  meals,  many  will  drink  more 
than  is  good  for  them  with  their  meals.  One  way 
to  avoid  excessive  drinking  at  meal  times  is  by 
having  plenty  of  water  available  at  other  times. 

Nearly  all  the  so-called  ''water  cures"  are  really 
valuable,  not  because  of  a  special  quality  in  the 

103 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

water  itself  but  because  large  quantities  are  pre- 
scribed to  be  drunk  at  proper  times.  To  flush 
the  bodily  system  is  just  as  necessary  as  to  flush 
sewers.  Some  obstinate  cases  of  constipation  have 
been  cured  by  the  simple  remedy  of  drinking 
one  or  two  pints  of  water  every  evening  im- 
mediately before  retiring.  In  summer,  ice  may  be 
used  in  moderation,  but  care  is  necessary  not  to 
have  the  drinking  water  too  cold. 


CLOTHING  AND  THE  CLOTHING  ROOM 

A  well  kept  clothing  room  is  a  matter  of  economy 
as  well  as  of  comfort.  In  any  but  the  smallest  in- 
stitutions there  should  be  a  separate  clothing  room 
in  the  men's  and  one  in  the  women's  department. 
The  doors  should  be  kept  locked  and  one  person 
only  be  allowed  to  give  out  the  garments.  Each 
inmate  should  be  furnished  with  sufficient  outer 
clothing  suitable  to  the  seasons  of  the  year  and  a 
change  of  underclothing,  all  properly  marked  with 
his  name,  and  these  should  be  kept  on  shelves  ap- 
propriately divided,  each  subdivision  bearing  the 
inmate's  name.  The  best  way  to  mark  the  clothes 
is  to  write  the  name  with  marking  ink  on  linen 
tape  which  can  then  be  cut  in  lengths  and  firmly 
sewed  onto  the  garment.  If  a  person  brings  with 
him  any  fairly  good  garments,  he  may  be  given 
the  choice  of  wearing  them  or  of  having  clothing 
supplied  by  the  institution.  A  difference  should 
be  made  in  the  clothing  worn  on  working  days  and 

104 


MANAGEMENT 

on  Sundays,  at  any  rate  for  the  men  and  women 
who  are  fully  employed.  The  difference  does  not 
need  to  be  very  great  nor  to  be  a  matter  of  much 
expense.  If  nothing  else,  a  clean  suit  or  a  clean 
dress,  of  the  kind  ordinarily  worn,  should  be  in- 
sisted upon.  Often  the  inmates'  own  clothes, 
which  he  brought  with  him,  may  be  kept  for 
Sunday  and  holiday  wear.  Clean'clothing  should 
be  issued  on  a  regular  day.* ' 

The  above  method  of  handling  the  clothes  makes 
some  work,  but  it  really  causes  less  trouble  than 
the  indiscriminate  use  of  garments,  a  plan  that 
often  prevails.  The  greater  care  taken  by  the 
wearer,  of  articles  which  he  recognizes  as  his  own, 
amounts  to  something,  while  the  conservation  of 
personal  dignity  is  a  valuable  aid  to  good  order  and 
discipline. 

As  far  as  possible  all  clothing  for  men  as  well  as 
for  women  should  be  washable.  In  summer  this 
is  simple  because  the  use  of  denims  is  almost 
universal  among  workmen,  denim  jackets  and 
overalls  as  outer  garments  usually  being  ac- 
ceptable. To  provide  warm  winter  clothing  is 
not  so  simple,  but  heavier  underwear  can  be  used 
and  a  loose  outer  garment  of  denim  be  made  to 
cover  the  cloth  garments  and  keep  them  from  be- 
coming soiled. 

Prompt  repair  of  torn  or  worn  clothing  is  a  part 
of  good  economy.  This  should  be  done  in  the 
clothing  room  or,  if  convenient,  in  a  special  sewing 

*  See  Chapter  V,  section  on  Bathing,  p.  8i. 
105 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

room  which  shall  adjoin  it.  All  garments  from  the 
laundry  should  be  carefully  inspected  before  going 
to  the  clothing  room  and  those  needing  repair  sent 
at  once  to  the  sewing  room.  In  patching  outer 
garments,  a  good  plan  is  to  cut  up  one  that  is 
worn  out  and  use  the  better  parts  of  it  for  repairing 
others  not  so  far  gone.  This  is  often  a  much  better 
plan  than  to  use  new  materials,  as  the  patch  is 
then  less  conspicuous. 

Inmates  should  be  encouraged  to  keep  them- 
selves and  their  clothing  neat  and  tidy;  a  missing 
button  or  an  unmended  rent  should  be  considered 
an  offense,  and  a  neat  patch  a  badge  of  honor. 


FURNITURE  AND  FURNISHINGS 

The  Bedrooms.  Furniture  and  Use.  Great 
extravagance  is  often  committed  in  the  purchase 
of  so-called  cheap  furniture  for  institutional  use. 
While  costly  furniture  is  improper  and  while 
everything  should  be  plain,  nothing  but  the  best 
and  most  substantial  of  its  kind  should  ever  be 
purchased. 

In  the  bedrooms  each  person  should  have  an  iron 
bed  with  substantial  casters  and  the  best  quality 
of  woven  wire  bed  bottom.  For  all  the  healthy 
inmates,  straw  ticks,  which  are  easily  and  cheaply 
renewed,  are  much  preferable  to  mattresses.  If 
these  latter  are  used  for  the  infirm  they  should  be 
well  covered.  For  some  of  the  feeble-minded  and 
the  insane,  and  for  inmates  with  certain  chronic 

io6 


MANAGEMENT 

diseases,  the  bedding  should  be  protected  by  rubber 
sheets  or  by  some  other  waterproof  covering. 

Good  all-wool  blankets  are  better,  and  eventually 
cheaper,  than  comfortables  or  quilts,  because  they 
can  be  more  easily  washed  without  injury.  The 
alleged  cheapness  of  wool — or  rather  shoddy — 
blankets  of  poor  quality,  is  deceptive,  but  there 
are  cheap  cotton  blankets  to  be  had  which  are 
suitable  for  beds  that  require  frequent  cleansing. 

For  sheets  and  pillow  covers  a  heavy  unbleached 
sheeting  should  be  chosen.  This  bleaches  out  in  a 
few  washings  and  wears  twice  as  long  as  the  ordi- 
nary bleached  sheetings,  which  are  often  loaded 
with  size  to  make  them  seem  heavy. 

Pillows  are  preferably  stuffed  with  hair  or 
moss.  Feather  pillows  are  a  luxury  that  may  prop- 
erly be  provided  for  a  few  of  the  feeble  old 
people  who  have  all  their  lives  been  accustomed 
to  them.  Epileptics  should  never  have  any  but 
hair  pillows.* 

Each  single  bedroom  should  contain,  besides 
the  bed,  a  small  table,  a  chair,  and  a  clothes  closet 
built  into  the  wall  or  a  movable  chest  of  drawers. 
Clothes  hanging  about  the  bedrooms  on  a  row  of 
nails  driven  into  the  walls  are  neither  sanitary  nor 
orderly,  and  should  never  be  allowed.  A  shelf  in 
the  closet  may  hold  the  inmate's  private  posses- 
sions, but  trunks  in  the  bedrooms  should  be  for- 

*  The  writer  has  known  two  cases  of  epileptics  who,  during  a  spasm 
in  the  night  while  in  bed,  have  turned  over  on  their  faces  and  been 
smothered  in  a  feather  pillow.     Many  such  cases  are  on  record. 

107 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

bidden.  A  safe  place,  under  lock  and  key,  should 
be  provided  for  these  elsewhere.  Those  who  oc- 
cupy single  rooms  should  be  permitted  to  deco- 
rate them  according  to  their  own  taste  in  a  simple 
way.  In  an  almshouse  on  a  modern  plan,  with 
small  detached  cottages  for  the  best  grade  of 
inmates,*  some  of  the  rules  may  be  relaxed,  and 
in  some  cases  the  inmates  may  be  allowed  to  bring 
in  furniture  of  their  own,  feather  beds,  etc.f 

No  well  conducted  almshouse  tolerates  the  use 
of  the  dormitories  for  other  than  sleeping  purposes. 
And  none  except  bedridden  patients,  who  should 
have  single  rooms,  should  be  allowed  in  their 
bedrooms  during  the  daytime.  In  the  mornings 
as  soon  as  the  inmates  are  up  and  dressed,  beds 
should  be  opened,  bed  clothes  thrown  back,  all 
the  windows  opened  wide,  and  the  room  and  its 
contents  thoroughly  aired  and  sunned.}:  At  least 
three  hours  of  airing  daily  should  be  insisted  upon. 
Beds  should  not  be  made  up  until  long  after 
breakfast.  In  the  sick  ward  this  plan  cannot  be 
followed,  except  with  those  cases  able  to  be  up  for 
a  time  during  the  day,  but  even  in  other  cases  the 
thorough  airing  of  the  bed  whenever  practicable 
must  not  be  neglected. 


*  See  Chapter  V,  The  Inmates. 

t  See  the  description  of  the  "shanties"  on  page  67.  Also  Ap- 
pendix VI 1,  page  183,  describing  the  small  cottage  homes  of  the  Fir- 
vale  Union,  Sheffield,  England. 

I  See  Chapter  V,  section  on  Personal  Cleanliness,  p.  81,  and  Chap- 
ter VI,  section  on  Institution  Odor,  p.  113,  as  to  the  airing  of  night 
shirts  and  day  clothing. 

108 


MANAGEMENT 

The  Kitchen.  The  equipment  of  a  kitchen 
varies  so  greatly  with  the  number  to  be  provided 
for,  that  only  the  most  general  terms  can  be  used 
in  speaking  of  it.  When  live  steam  is  available, 
there  is  great  economy  in  the  use  of  steam  kettles, 
which  allow  the  long,  slow  cooking  that  is  now 
recognized  as  important.  The  same  effect,  with 
even  greater  economy,  on  a  smaller  scale,  can  be 
gained  by  the  use  of  the  fireless  cooker,  so  called,  a 
recent  modification  of  an  old  idea,  which  is  making 
a  quiet  revolution  in  many  domestic  kitchens,  and 
is  helping  to  offset  the  rise  in  the  price  of  food 
stuffs. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  kitchen  utensils 
should  all  be  of  the  very  best  and  most  substantial 
quality,  and  that  there  should  be  a  full  supply  of 
them. 

The  Dining  Room.  Furniture  and  Service. 
In  the  dining  room,  as  everywhere  in  an  institu- 
tion with  a  variety  of  inmates,  classification  is  im- 
portant; and  convenient  management  of  the  room 
depends  primarily  upon  its  furniture. 

The  tables  should  be  substantial  and  not  too 
large,  the  old  fashioned  long  tables  with  seats  for 
twenty  or  more  on  each  side  being  objectionable 
for  many  reasons,  chiefly  because  of  the  impossi- 
bility of  proper  classification.  The  number  at  a 
table  should  be  either  four,  six,  or  eight.  Allowing 
about  twenty-seven  inches  for  each  person,  a 
table  six  feet  nine  by  four  feet,  will  seat  eight,  three 
at  a  side  and  one  at  each  end.     Tables  of  this  kind 

109 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

may  be  substantially  built,  and  yet  not  be  too 
heavy  to  be  easily  moved  without  the  use  of  casters. 
The  seats  in  all  cases  should  be  chairs,  never  stools 
nor  wooden  benches. 

The  table  for  all  but  the  lowest  grades  of  inmates 
should  be  covered  with  a  linen  cloth.  Unbleached 
linen  is  very  durable,  soon  bleaches  out  white  in 
washing,  and  is  so  much  more  attractive  than  oil- 
cloth that  it  should  be  used  whenever  possible.  If 
oilcloth  is  replaced  as  soon  as  it  becomes  worn,  the 
expense  in  the  long  run,  except  for  the  cost  of 
washing,  will  be  found  to  be  almost,  if  not  quite, 
as  much  as  for  linen.  A  bare  wooden  table, 
scrubbed  to  spotless  cleanliness  after  each  meal, 
is  not  unattractive,  but  the  labor  of  scrubbing  is 
almost  prohibitive,  while  if  not  scrubbed  to  per- 
fection, such  tables  are  both  unsightly  and  un- 
sanitary, especially  when  they  become  old  and 
begin  to  show  cracks. 

For  inmates  who  are  very  uncleanly  and  who 
cannot  be  taught  cleanliness,  white  oilcloth  table- 
covers  which  can  be  easily  washed  after  every 
meal  may  be  allowed. 

Plated  tableware  should  be  used  on  all  the 
tables  of  the  better  grades  of  inmates,  and  the 
dishes,  plates,  cups  and  saucers,  and  bowls  should 
be  of  heavy  queensware.  For  inmates  who  are 
incorrigibly  careless,  enameled  ware  may  be  used, 
although  it  is  questionable  whether  it  is  economical 
if  appearance  is  regarded,  since  this  ware  is  easily 
chipped  and   then   looks   little  better   than  tin; 

IIO 


MANAGEMENT 

it  is,  however,  possible  to  keep  it  clean.  Tin  cups 
and  plates  are  an  abomination.  They  are  rarely 
washed  clean,  and  are  soon  dented  and  rusted 
and  must  be  replaced. 

With  tables  as  suggested  for  six  or  eight  people 
each  of  whom  is  assigned  to  his  or  her  particular 
seat,  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  divide  the  inmates 
into  congenial  groups,  and  to  secure  a  degree  of 
comfort  as  well  as  good  order  that  is  hard  to  get 
in  any  other  way. 

The  method  of  service  again  has  much  to  do  with 
good  order.  For  all  the  better  grade  inmates  the 
food  may  be  put  on  the  tables  in  dishes,  those  at 
the  head  serving  the  others.  In  this  way  the  food 
can  be  served  hotter,  and  with  a  little  care  there 
will  be  much  less  waste  than  when  it  is  divided 
on  individual  plates  before  serving.  Moreover, 
the  little  distinction  conferred  on  the  one  who 
presides  at  the  table  is  often  valued.  Everything 
of  this  kind,  though  seemingly  trivial,  is  yet  an  aid 
in  management  if  properly  used. 

For  the  feeble  and  helpless,  service  must  be 
according  to  their  needs.  There  will  be  some  who 
cannot  feed  themselves,  although  they  can  walk 
to  the  dining  room.  Help  must  be  given  them, 
and  this  can  often  be  found  among  their  associates, 
to  whom  the  task  may  be  regularly  assigned. 
Wise  managers  will  take  advantage  of  and  culti- 
vate the  kindly,  human  instincts  which  often  exist 
in  inmates  of  institutions. 

Neatness  of  person  and  clothing  should  be  ex- 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

acted  in  the  dining  rooms.  No  inmate  with 
dirty  face  or  hands  or  uncombed  hair  should  be 
allowed  at  table.  The  men  should  be  shaved 
and  their  hair  cut  regularly.  The  women  should 
be  even  more  careful,  as  they  readily  will  be  if 
encouraged.  There  should  be  lavatories  with  good 
supplies  of  soap  and  towels  not  far  from  the  dining 
room  entrances  and  in  each  a  mirror  should  hang, 
or,  better  still,  be  screwed  tight  to  the  wall. 

The  Sitting  Rooms.  The  sitting  rooms  should 
be  provided  with  benches  and  chairs,  among 
which  should  be  a  good  proportion  of  rocking  and 
easy  chairs  for  the  older  inmates.  It  is  a  good 
plan  to  allot  the  more  comfortable  ones  to  indi- 
vidual inmates  so  as  to  avoid  quarrels.  The  rock- 
ing chairs  should  be  substantial,  and  if  they  are 
strong  and  well  made  will  really  last  longer  than 
straight  chairs,  as  the  latter  are  frequently  broken 
or  weakened  by  being  tilted  against  the  wall,  which 
strains  and  loosens  the  joints.  Good  strong  tables, 
one  or  two  couches,  and  a  few  shelves  on  the  wall 
for  books  and  papers,  should  complete  the  furni- 
ture of  the  room. 

Prints  and  pictures  are  now  so  good  and  so  cheap 
that  there  is  no  reason  why  the  walls  of  the  sitting 
rooms  should  not  be  ornamented  with  them.  A 
few  plants  in  the  windows  are  bright  and  cheerful. 
All  the  sitting  room  windows  should  have  shades. 
The  windows,  as  throughout  the  house,  should  be 
kept  clean.  The  paint  everywhere  should  be 
washed  regularly  and  the  walls,  if  tinted,  should  be 

112 


MANAGEMENT 

gone  over  once  a  year;  if  painted,  they  should  be 
washed  occasionally.  Short  curtains  on  the  win- 
dows and  pictures  on  the  walls  should  be  the  rule. 

INSTITUTION  ODOR 

This  disagreeable  and  unsanitary  feature  of 
institution  life  is  very  common,  especially  in  cold 
weather  when  the  windows  are  kept  closed  and 
ventilation  is  purely  mechanical  or  non-existent. 
This  odor  has  two  main  sources,  the  bodies,  breath, 
and  clothing  of  the  inmates,  and  emanations  from 
the  floors.  The  latter  cause  is  not  present  to 
any  serious  extent  when  polished  hard  wood  is 
used  instead  of  scrubbed  pine,  and  the  former  can 
be  removed  by  attention  to  individual  cleanliness. 
To  secure  this,  however,  is  not  easy.  Eternal 
vigilance  is  the  price  of  cleanliness  of  person. 
Sufficient  bathing  in  hot  water  at  least  weekly 
and  daily  attention  to  ordinary  lavation  must  be 
insisted  upon.  As  has  already  been  mentioned, 
all  underclothing  should  be  changed  and  washed 
at  least  once  a  week,*  and  outer  clothing  should 
be  washed  at  moderate  intervals.! 

Another  matter  often  neglected  is  the  daily 
change  of  clothing  on  going  to  bed.  Every  inmate 
should  be  furnished  with  a  comfortable  nightshirt 

*  See  Chapter  VI,  section  on  Clothing,  p.  104. 

t  It  is  curious  to  our  Western  minds  to  be  told  that  the  Chinese 
regard  us  as  very  filthy  persons  because  we  wear  our  outer  garments 
month  after  month  without  washing  them.  The  Chinaman  thinks 
his  outer  garments  should  be  washed  as  frequently  as  his  underwear. 

8  ,,3 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

or  nightgown  and  should  be  required  to  change  to 
the  skin  on  undressing.  The  day  clothes  should 
hang  in  some  place  for  airing  during  the  night  and 
the  nightgown  should  be  in  free  air  during  the  day. 
Nightgowns  should  never  be  allowed  to  be  placed 
on  the  mattress  or  under  the  pillow  during  the 
day,  as  will  be  done  if  not  prevented. 

There  are  few  things  more  difficult  to  do  than 
to  make  the  chronic  pauper  change  the  habits  of 
a  lifetime  and  abstain  from  sleeping  in  his  day 
clothing.  This  task  is  even  more  difficult  than 
to  enforce  the  weekly  full  bath  or  the  daily  "wash- 
ing behind  the  ears.''  In  an  almshouse,  however, 
where  these  things  are  successfully  and  regularly 
done,  good  order,  clean'iness  and  discipline  will 
usually  be  found  to  prevail.  It  is  easy  to  see  how 
valuable  is  the  dormitory  plan  when  it  comes  to 
enforcing  regulations  of  the  kind. 


VERMIN 

Every  institution  must  wage  an  incessant  war- 
fare against  vermin  of  every  kind.  The  com- 
monest vermin,  and  perhaps  the  most  difficult 
to  eradicate,  are  bedbugs.  Occasionally  an  old 
building,  especially  of  frame,  which  has  been 
neglected,  is  so  infested  with  these  annoying 
insects  that  it  is  impossible  to  exterminate  them. 
But  even  in  good  new  buildings  where  constant 
attention  is  paid  to  the  subject,  the  management 
must  be  prepared  to  find  them.     Moreover,  new 

114 


MANAGEMENT 

inmates  usually  bring  boxes  or  bundles  of  clothing 
which  carry  the  pests,  and  sometimes  these  even 
infest  the  clothes  they  are  wearing.  It  is  a  good 
thing  to  have  a  disinfecting  closet  which  can  be 
made  air  tight  and  where  formaldehyde  may  be 
used  freely,  in  which  the  clothing  may  be  placed 
for  a  while  and  thoroughly  disinfected.*  During 
the  summer  months  a  systematic  inspection  of 
bedsteads  and  mattresses  should  also  be  made. 
In  some  almshouses  the  beds  are  taken  apart, 
inspected,  and  thoroughly  cleansed  once  a  week 
during  this  season. 

Lice  of  various  kinds  are  a  still  more  annoying 
and  all  too  common  nuisance.  These,  if  found,  must 
be  eradicated  by  the  most  vigorous  methods,  upon 
which  the  doctor  may  be  properly  consulted,  and 
then  be  kept  out  by  thoroughly  disinfecting  all  new 
inmates,  who  should  be  bathed  in  a  plentiful  supply 
of  hot  water  before  being  assigned  to  a  room. 
Where  there  is  any  suspicion  of  body  lice,  blue 
ointment  or  some  other  mercurial  poison  must  be 
freely  used. 

The  common  domestic  fly,  which  we  have  long 
regarded  as  merely  troublesome,  has  lately  been 
proved  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  carriers  of  disease. 
Whenever  possible,   the  whole  house  should  be 


*  The  best  disinfectant  is,  probably,  a  mixture  of  sulphur  and  for- 
malin. The  sulphur  candle,  burnt  in  a  dish  which  is  made  for  the 
purpose,  holding  formalin,  vaporizes  the  latter  into  formaldehyde  gas. 
The  Depree  Formaldehyde  Fumigator  made  by  the  Depree  Chemical 
Company,  Holland,  Mich.,  is  used  officially  by  many  city  boards  of 
health. 


115 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

protected  against  flies  (as  well  as  against  mosqui- 
toes), but  special  attention  should  be  paid  to 
screening  the  windows  and  doors  of  the  kitchen, 
dining  rooms,  and  sick  rooms. 

Besides  thorough  screening  of  the  house,  a  still 
more  important  means  of  avoiding  the  nuisance 
of  flies  is  by  general  cleanliness  outside.  No 
decaying  substance  should  be  allowed,  except  in  a 
place  properly  prepared  for  it.  Barrels  of  swill, 
boxes  of  garbage,  and  similar  breeding  places  of 
flies  and  contagion,  should  be  promptly  emptied 
and  cleansed,  and  should  be  well  covered  with  wire 
screens  when  in  use.  Persistent  cleanliness,  not 
only  in  the  house,  but  in  the  surrounding  grounds, 
is  necessary  to  secure  immunity  from  the  con- 
tagion which  these  insect  vermin  carry. 

Rats  and  mice,  while  not  so  annoying,  are  yet 
expensive  and  sometimes  dangerous,  and  must  be 
kept  down  or  if  possible  exterminated.  Especially 
in  the  store  room  should  the  floor  and  walls  be  rat 
and  mouse  proof,  and  the  various  goods  be  stored 
in  such  a  way  that  there  shall  be  no  hiding  places. 
The  barn  is  a  frequent  haunt  of  the  rat,  and  the 
feed  bins  and  also  the  corn  crib  should  be  made  rat 
proof. 


ii6 


CHAPTER  VII 
CARE  OF  THE  SICK 

THE  HOSPITAL  DEPARTMENT 

IN  counties  containing  large  cities  and  in  the 
more  populous  towns,  hospital  care  for  the 
sick  poor  can  usually  be  obtained.  But 
in  the  rural  counties,  the  almshouse  must  per- 
force also  be  the  county  hospital  for  the  poor. 
This  fact  is  becoming  increasingly  recognized  in 
many  states,  and  the  hospital  department  of  the 
almshouse  is  consequently  being  better  arranged 
and  supported.*  This  development  has  gone  so 
far  in  California,  for  instance,  that  instead  of  the 
hospitals  being  a  department  of  the  almshouse,  the 
reverse  is  the  case,  the  county  hospital  being  the 
main  institution.! 

We  fmd  a  somewhat  similar  growth  of  the  care 
of  the  sick  in  many  other  states,  at  any  rate  as 
far  as  contagious  diseases  go.  The  "pest  house" 
is  often  situated  on  the  county  farm,  although  its 
management  is  rarely  considered  to  be  the  duty 

*  For  the  location  of  the  hospital  and  its  relation  to  water  supply, 
etc.,  see  Chapter  III,  Construction,  in  the  section  on  the  Hospital  De- 
partment, p.  25. 

t  See  Appendix  III,  page  158,  Extract  from  discussion  on  County 
Hospitals  in  California,  at  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Cor- 
rection, 1905. 

117 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

of  the  superintendent  of  the  almshouse,  being 
specially  organized  by  the  local  board  of  health  at 
the  time  of  each  recurring  epidemic. 

It  is  important  to  have  the  infirmaries,  whether 
in  a  separate  building  or  not,  reserved  for  the  one 
purpose  only,  and  kept  vacant  when  there  are  no 
sick  people  needing  them.  They  should  be  fitted 
up  with  special  furniture  and  such  conveniences  as 
commodes,  bedpans,  hot  water  bottles,  douches, 
etc.,  which  must  be  at  hand  when  needed.  A  very 
positive  rule  should  forbid  the  sick  room  equip- 
ment being  borrowed  and  used  in  other  parts  of 
the  house. 


THE  MEDICAL  OFFICER 

The  doctor  should  make  regular  visits  to  the 
almshouse  either  daily  or  twice  or  three  times 
each  week.  While  frequent  visits  take  a  little 
time,  yet  early  treatment  in  attacking  a  disease 
before  it  is  advanced  will  often  avert  grave  illness 
which  would  be  a  much  more  serious  drain  upon 
the  physician's  time  and  energy.  1 1  is  his  province 
not  only  to  treat  the  sick  but  to  prevent  sickness. 
For  this  reason  he  should  be  on  the  alert  to  detect 
and  correct  any  unsanitary  conditions  which  may 
exist.  He  should  see  all  new  inmates  at  his  first 
visit  after  their  admission.  The  amount  of  labor 
an  inmate  can  do  depends  upon  his  physical 
condition,  and  should  be  determined,  to  a  large 
extent  at  least,  by  the  physician. 

ii8 


CARE   OF   THE   SICK 

No  sick  person  should  be  received  without  a 
diagnosis  of  his  case  from  the  physician  who  has 
treated  him.  When  this  is  lacking  and  the  patient 
is  in  such  a  condition  that  he  must  be  admitted, 
the  regular  almshouse  physician  should  imme- 
diately be  summoned.  Until  his  visit,  the  patient 
should  be  isolated  and,  no  matter  what  the 
apparent  symptoms  are,  be  treated  as  though  the 
case  were  known  to  be  a  contagious  one.  To 
import  a  contagious  disease  into  an  almshouse  is  a 
very  serious  thing;  yet  it  will  be  done  unless  the 
superintendent  strictly  enforces  some  such  rule  as 
that  suggested  above.  Many  institutions  quaran- 
tine all  new  inmates,  whether  they  are  sick  or  well, 
until  any  danger  of  contagion  is  past;  and  when  it 
can  be  enforced,  this  is  a  good  rule  for  every  alms- 
house. 

The  physician's  compensation  should  always 
be  by  the  month  or  year,  never  by  the  single  visit. 
If  he  comes  regularly  and  if  he  is  watchful  of  the 
health  conditions  of  the  establishment,  special 
visits  will  seldom  be  necessary.  When  they  are, 
however,  they  should  be  promptly  made. 

The  arrangement  by  which  the  doctor  gives  both 
service  and  medicine  for  a  specified  lump  sum  per 
annum  is  a  very  bad  one.  The  medicine  that  is 
necessary  should  be  paid  for  when  required  and 
the  best  is  the  cheapest.  There  should  be  no 
niggardliness  in  the  medical  department;  the 
doctor  should  be  supplied  with  the  drugs  and 
appliances   which   he   needs.     There   may   be   a 

119 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

question  as  to  the  duty  of  society  to  care  for  and 
support  the  shiftless  and  the  inefficient;  there  can 
be  no  question  of  the  duty  of  the  community  to 
care  for  the  dependent  sick, — and  care  means  com- 
plete care,  not  semi-neglect  nor  a  stinting  of  the 
best  means  of  medical  treatment. 


NURSING 

Wherever  the  care  of  the  sick  is  considered  as 
being  a  serious  part  of  the  institution's  work,  it 
should  be  in  charge  of  a  trained  nurse.  There  are 
few  almshouses  so  small  that  a  person  with  a 
nurse's  training  is  not  needed.  In  fact,  that 
training  would  be  highly  valuable  for  the  matron. 
But  in  the  care  of  the  sick  the  difference  between 
the  "good,  old-fashioned,  motherly  nurse,"  whom 
many  people  like  to  talk  about  in  a  sentimental 
way,  and  the  efficient  graduate  nurse  who  has  been 
trained  in  one  of  our  excellent  hospital  schools,  is 
simply  that  between  the  methods  of  the  eighteenth 
and  those  of  the  twentieth  century. 

In  the  large  almshouses  of  the  great  cities,  where 
there  are  one  thousand  or  more  inmates  and 
seventy-five  to  one  hundred  people  usually  in  the 
hospital,  a  resident  physician  will  properly  be 
found.  The  smaller  institutions  which  have  a 
hospital  department  separate  from  the  main 
building  may  be  content  with  a  graduate  nurse, 
and  a  great  many  of  them  now  employ  one.  As 
long  ago  as  1902  it  was  reported  for  the  state  of 

120 


CARE   OF   THE    SICK 

New  York,  that  over  33  per  cent  of  the  county 
almshouses  were  equipped  with  detached  hospitals, 
each  in  charge  of  a  trained  nurse,  and  the  propor- 
tion has  certainly  increased  since  then. 

With  a  graduate  nurse  in  charge,  much  of  the 
nursing  in  a  small  hospital  can  be  done  by  ordinary 
help  under  her  direction.  Where  there  are  many 
patients  the  training  school  method  of  securing 
assistants  can  be  adopted.* 

THE  CARE  OF  CONSUMPTIVES 

A  few  years  ago  when  a  person  was  told  by  a 
competent  physician  that  he  had  consumption,  or 
tuberculosis  of  the  lungs,  he  and  his  friends 
accepted  the  verdict  as  a  death  sentence.  He  also 
continued  to  live  with  his  family  and  did  not 
know  that  he  could  possibly  be  a  source  of  infection 
to  them.  But  modern  treatment  of  tuberculosis 
cases  is  based  upon  two  principles  that  have  been 
conclusively  demonstrated  only  within  the  past 
twenty-five  years;  the  first  is  that,  taken  in  time, 
consumption  may  be  cured;  the  second,  that  it  is 
invariably  caused  by  a  germ,  and  therefore  is  a 
disease  that  may  be  transmitted  from  one  person 
to  another. 

Consumptives  are  often  found  in  institutions. 

*  See  Appendix  XIV,  page  227,  "Una  and  her  Paupers";  also 
Proceedings  of  the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
1895,  p.  276,  Rowe,  "A  Plea  for  Trained  Nurses  in  Almshouse  Hos- 
pitals," and  p.  267,  Darche,  "  Blackwell's  Island  Hospitals."  Also 
Proceedings  of  1902,  p.  212,  "The  Almshouse  Hospital,"  by  Mrs. 
Alice  N.  Lincoln. 

121 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

It  is  of  great  importance  that  the  disease  shall  be 
recognized  early,  that  proper  treatment  of  the 
patient  shall  be  had,  and  that  any  possible  source 
of  infection  shall  be  cut  off.  Patients  should  be 
segregated  or  isolated,  their  clothing,  sheets  and 
bed  linen  thoroughly  disinfected  and  washed 
separately  from  those  of  other  inmates,  and  their 
sputum  disinfected  and  destroyed.  Anyone  with 
a  suspicious  cough,  or  a  cough  of  long  standing, 
should  be  reported  to  the  doctor  and  thoroughly 
examined  by  him.  The  danger  of  infection  is  so 
great  that  suspected  cases  should  be  treated  as 
though  they  were  certain  until  all  doubtful 
symptoms  are  gone,  and  especially  should  the 
rules  about  spitting  be  positive  and  strenuously 
enforced,  and  may  well  apply  to  all  inmates, 
whether  suspected  of  tuberculosis  or  not.  In  all 
cases  the  orders  of  the  doctor  as  to  fresh  air,  extra 
nutrition,  and  rest  should  be  faithfully  followed. 

If  the  infirmary  department  is  built  with  a 
porch  or  gallery,  this,  screened  from  wind  and 
rain,  makes  an  excellent  place  for  consumptives' 
sleeping  quarters.  If  no  such  porch  is  available, 
then  the  tent-window-bed,  which  allows  the 
sleeper's  head  to  be  outdoors  while  his  body  is 
warm  within,  should  be  provided. 

It  is  probable  that  the  present  national  cam- 
paign against  tuberculosis  will  result  in  more  cases 
rather  than  fewer  being  brought  to  almshouses. 
The  necessity  of  removing  advanced  cases  from 
their  homes,  when  these  are  the  crowded  homes  of 

122 


CARE   OF  THE   SICK 

the  poor,  is  being  recognized  and,  failing  special 
hospitals  or  sanatoria,  such  patients  will  be  sent  to 
the  only  available  place,  which  in  many  cases 
means  the  almshouse.  Many  of  the  large  city 
almshouses  have  been  equipped  recently  with 
special  wards  for  consumptive  cases,  and  it  will 
be  increasingly  necessary  to  do  this.  While  the 
danger  of  infection  is  serious,  it  is  possible  to  avert 
it  if  the  physician  makes  strict  rules  and  the  ad- 
ministration enforces  them. 


MATERNITY  CASES 

The  woman  about  to  become  a  mother  makes  a 
strong  appeal  to  our  sympathy,  especially  if  she 
is  one  on  whom  the  burden  of  her  own  support,  as 
well  as  that  of  her  prospective  child,  is  laid.  All 
country  almshouses,  and  many  in  the  cities,  fre- 
quently admit  cases  of  the  kind.  The  best  method 
of  dealing  with  the  unmarried  mother  and  her 
babe  should,  therefore,  be  studied.  Too  often  the 
woman  comes  in  pregnant,  bears  the  child,  and 
goes  out  again  as  soon  as  she  can  walk,  sometimes 
taking  the  baby  and  sometimes  leaving  it  behind. 

The  inadequacy  of  the  legal  control  of  such 
cases  is  one  of  the  many  weak  places  in  our  system 
of  public  relief  and  reformation.  Under  the  usual 
present  arrangements  the  almshouse,  as  a  mater- 
nity hospital,  is  certainly  more  of  an  encourage- 
ment to  immorality  than  a  deterring  influence. 
This  subject  has  long  been  under  discussion  and  the 

123 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

evils  of  reckless  neglect  by  the  proper  authori- 
ties have  been  made  known.  Perhaps  the  most 
scathing  criticism  of  public  neglect  of  the  dissolute 
accompanied  by  partial  public  support  which 
makes  continued  dissoluteness  possible,  that  has 
ever  been  presented,  will  be  found  in  an  extract 
from  a  paper  read  at  the  sixth  National  Confer- 
ence of  Charities  and  Correction  by  Mrs.  Charles 
Russell  Lowell  of  New  York  City.* 

A  reasonable  requirement  in  maternity  cases 
would  be  that  the  mother  should  stay,  with  her 
child,  until  it  is  weaned,  either  in  the  almshouse 
itself  or  in  some  suitable  place,  in  the  meantime 
doing  such  useful  work  as  she  is  able.  Until  we 
have  sensible  laws  on  the  subject,  something  might 
be  done  by  exacting  a  pledge  that  the  mother  will 
stay  at  least  one  year,  as  a  condition  of  the  order 
for  admission  of  a  confinement  case. 

Whatever  may  or  may  not  be  done  about  the 
control  of  illegitimacy,  the  mother  and  her  babe 
must  be  carefully  and  kindly  treated  and  well 
nursed.  If  the  hospital  department  is  under  the 
control  of  a  trained  nurse,  she  will  of  course  take 
charge.  If  it  is  not,  a  special,  qualified  nurse 
should  be  engaged  for  the  time  being.  It  is  not 
right  in  such  a  case  to  trust  to  the  nursing  of  any 
old  woman  who  "has  had  seven  and  buried  six," 
and  therefore  knows  all  about  it.  If  maternity 
cases  are  frequent,  it  is  evidently  good  economy 

*  See  Appendix  XV,  page  229,  extracts  from  a  paper  read  at  the 
sixth  National  Conference,  1879. 

124 


CARE   OF   THE    SICK 

to  employ  a  competent  nurse  by  the  year.  With 
the  great  advance  in  medical  and  nursing  science 
and  the  general  recognition  of  what  aseptic  nursing 
means,  no  intelligent  governing  board  will  refuse 
to  allow  the  proper  help  at  such  times  in  the 
hospital  department. 


125 


CHAPTER  VIII 
MENTAL  DEFECTIVES 

WHILE  as  a  general  proposition  it  is 
quite  true  that  feeble-minded,  epilep- 
tic, and  insane  persons  ought  to  be  in 
specialized,  and  preferably  in  state  institutions, 
there  yet  are  very  few  almshouses  that  do  not 
contain  some  members  of  these  classes.  In  some 
places,  indeed,  they  form  the  majority  of  the  in- 
mates. 

In  a  state  fully  equipped  with  institutions,  the 
duty  of  the  superintendent,  when  a  defective 
person  comes  with  an  admission  order,  is,  if 
possible,  to  secure  his  or  her  reception  in  the  ap- 
propriate state  institution.  Failing  such  institu- 
tions to  depend  upon,  he  must  take  care  to  classify 
his  inmates.  Some  large  almshouses  have  special 
buildings  for  the  insane  or  feeble-minded,  but  in 
any  case,  these  inmates  should  be  so  guarded  that 
they  cannot  annoy  the  older  and  feebler  men  and 
women,  and  are  themselves  protected  from  rough 
or  vicious  inmates. 

In  the  care  of  the  milder  forms  of  insanity,  the 
separation  does  not  need  to  be  complete.  In  fact, 
in  a  small  institution,  many  of  these  persons  may 

126 


MENTAL  DEFECTIVES 

receive  practically  the  same  treatment  as  the  sane. 
They  are  often  efficient  workers  and,  but  for  their 
mental  trouble,  are  frequently  of  a  better  class  than 
the  majority  of  the  inmates.  They  together  with 
the  higher  grades  of  the  feeble-minded*  are  often 
the  best  helpers  among  the  inmates  of  institutions, 
and  are  sometimes  more  happy  and  more  useful  in 
a  small,  well  kept  almshouse  than  they  would  be 
in  a  mammoth  hospital  without  proper  occupa- 
tion. This,-however,  in  the  case  of  both  the  feeble- 
minded and  the  insane,  is  only  true  of  small  alms- 
houses, in  which  the  treatment  of  each  inmate  can 
be  individualized  and  administered  personally  by 
the  superintendent  or  matron. 

Here  are  a  few  illustrative  cases  among  many 
in  the  writer's  experience  in  county  almshouses: 

In  L County  one  insane  man  has  charge  of  all 

the  feeding  of  cattle  and  horses,  carrying  the  keys  of  the 
feed  room.  This  man  will  not  speak  to  a  human  being, 
but  is  chatty  with  the  live  stock  and  is  an  excellent 
horseman. 

In  W County  an  insane  man  is  the  best  hand  on 

the  farm;  has  his  regular  team,  plows,  harrows,  and  does 
all  a  hired  man  would  do  except  drive  the  wagon  to 
town. 

In  O^ County  an  insane  man  does  all  the  house- 
work, except  the  cooking,  for  a  small  almshouse,  and 
washes,  starches,  and  irons  the  clothes;  is  a  very  neat 
ironer,  a  little  cross  and  somewhat  profane  in  speech, 
but  perfectly  kind  in  action. 

In  H County  a  feeble-minded  woman  does  all 

the  cooking,  washing,  and  ironing  for  an  almshouse  of 
30  inmates. 

*  See  Appendix  IX,  page  201,  Imbeciles  in  Almshouses. 
127 


128 


29 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

In  C County  a  feeble-minded  woman,  with  three 

illegitimate  children,  does  the  washing  (Mondays),  the 
baking  (Wednesdays  and  Saturdays),  and  the  churning 
(Tuesdays  and  Fridays).  Thursday  is  the  only  day 
she  does  not  seem  happy,  the  regular  religious  service 
on  Sunday  seeming  to  have  as  consoling  an  effect  as  the 
active  work  of  the  other  days.* 

While  it  is  rare  that  a  strong-minded  inmate  will 
do  work  enough  to  hurt  him,  it  is  necessary  to  be 
careful  that  the  feeble-minded  are  not  overworked. 
Cases  are  not  infrequent  in  which  a  feeble-minded 
man  of  rather  feeble  body  will,  unless  checked, 
attempt  labor  fit  only  for  a  robust  person.  Their 
errors  of  judgment  in  such  things  as  loading  a 
wheelbarrow,  or  taking  too  heavy  a  load  on  their 
shoulders,  must  be  guarded  against,  as  well  as 
the  fact  that  other  inmates,  if  they  are  not 
watched,  will  often  impose  on  the  feeble-minded. 
In  utilizing  the  labor  of  these  defectives,  espe- 
cially of  the  women,  the  superintendent  and  matron 
must  never  forget  the  constant  need  of  watchful- 
ness to  protect  them  from  wrong. 

*  What  is  said  above  about  the  insane  in  almshouses,  must  not  be 
construed  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  their  continual  care  under  ordinary 
almshouse  conditions.  It  is  meant  to  show  that  it  is  possible  under 
favorable  conditions  to  give  fairly  good  care  to  certain  selected  excep- 
tional cases.  The  sad  stories,  that  can  be  truthfully  told,  of  the 
neglected  insane  under  unfit  conditions,  make  every  humane  person 
agree  that  they  should  all  be,  if  not  under  complete  state  support, 
very  certainly  under  complete  state  control.  Support  and  control 
are  not  necessarily  functions  of  the  same  agency.  See  Appendix 
XVI,  page  236,  Instances  of  Improper  Treatment  of  Insane  in  Alms- 
houses. 


130 


CHAPTER  IX 

MISCELLANEOUS 

THE  FRONT  DOOR  YARD 

AN  attractive  appearance  is  a  valuable  asset  of 
h\  a  public  building,  and  one  of  the  best  ways  to 
^  ^  make  a  house  attractive  is  by  taking  care 
of  the  front  grounds.  Shade  trees,  and  grass  plots, 
a  few  flower  beds,  chiefly  filled  with  hardy  peren- 
nials, a  neat  front  gate  and  fence  and  tidy  walks, 
should  be  insisted  upon.  All  these  may  be  had 
by  the  small  almshouse.  They  cost  little  in 
money  and  not  very  much  in  work.  Some  of  the 
older  inmates  can  be  very  pleasantly  employed 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  year  in  the  care  of  the 
yard.  The  grass  should  be  cut  and  raked  regu- 
larly, and  in  the  driest  season  sprinkled  every  day. 
The  walks  should  be  kept  clean.  Trees  should  be 
carefully  trimmed,  the  flowers  that  are  in  full 
bloom  gathered,  and  vines  trained  to  cover  any- 
thing unsightly. 

The  inmates,  especially  the  older  ones,  should 
be  allowed  and  encouraged  to  use  the  lawns  and 
to  rest  under  the  shade  trees.  Whatever  will  get 
them  out  of  doors  at  any  time  is  to  be  valued. 

All  that  is  said  above  as  to  the  front  yard  applies 
131 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

to  all  the  grounds  in  the  vicinity  of  the  house. 
An  orderly  house  keeps  its  back  yard  as  clean  as 
the  front.  Nothing  presents  a  worse  appearance 
than  discarded  or  half  worn  material  scattered 
about.  A  disorderly  back  yard  is  one  of  the 
commonest  faults  of  small  country  almshouses, 
yet  it  is  one  of  the  easiest  to  remedy. 


THE  FARM  AND  GARDEN 

To  supply  the  institution  should  be  the  first  if 
not  the  only  consideration  in  raising  crops;  the 
almshouse  kitchen  is  the  best  and  nearest  customer 
of  the  almshouse  farm.  Occasionally  we  fmd  a 
county  farm  which  does  more  than  this,  enough 
surplus  produce  in  cattle,  hogs,  and  wheat  being 
sold  yearly  to  pay  for  groceries,  clothing,  and,  in 
some  cases,  even  for  the  salary  of  the  superinten- 
dent.    But  such  instances  are  rare. 

The  choice  of  crops  will  depend  on  the  amount 
and  quality  of  land.  As  a  rule,  no  more  wheat 
should  be  raised  than  will  make  the  flour  needed. 
Often  with  a  small  acreage  it  may  pay  better  to 
buy  all  the  flour.  Many  farmers  regard  a  wheat 
crop  as  indispensable  in  their  rotation,  but  profit- 
able rotations  may  be  worked  out  without  it.  It 
rarely  pays  to  buy  large  amounts  of  land  and  hire 
farm  help  to  raise  wheat.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  always  right  to  raise  enough  feed,  both  grain 
and  roughage,  for  the  necessary  cattle.  Similarly, 
it  does  not  pay,  in  most  parts  of  the  country,  for 

132 


MISCELLANEOUS 

even  a  large  institution  to  raise  and  slaughter  its 
own  beef;  yet  hogs,  if  kept  free  from  disease,  are 
profitable  even  on  a  small  acreage. 

The  potato  crop  is  perhaps  the  most  valuable. 
Next  come  the  milk  and  the  meat.  Then  the 
fruit,  large  and  small.  The  garden  crops  come 
before  the  field  crops  in  importance  if  not  in  cash 
value.  A  good  vegetable  garden  grows  more  food 
and  employs  more  labor  of  the  kind  the  inmates 
are  usually  able  to  perform,  than  any  other  part 
of  the  land,  and  it  should  have  special  atten- 
tion. 

The  following  extract  from  the  Indiana  Bulletin, 
published  by  the  Board  of  State  Charities,  though 
written  for  the  latitude  of  Indiana,  applies  very 
generally  in  this  country. 

"Almost  without  exception  our  poor  asylum  farms 
can  be  made  to  grow  a  considerable  part,  if  not  all,  of 
the  vegetables  and  fruits  that  can  be  used.  Some  of 
our  poor  asylums  are  self-supporting;  that  is  to  say, 
the  cash  returns  of  the  farm  are  greater  than  the  total 
expense  of  conducting  the  institution,  including  the 
superintendent's  salary.  In  this  no  account  is  taken 
of  the  products  grown  and  used  by  the  institution. 
Still  others  could  be  considered  self-supporting,  if  we 
count  at  the  ordinary  market  value  the  farm  products 
used  by  the  superintendent  and  the  inmates.  Many 
are  not  so.  Some  cannot  be.  It  is  certain  that  many 
more  can  be  self-supporting  than  are.  A  greater  num- 
ber of  others  can  be  made  more  nearly  self-supporting. 
Some  of  our  poor  asylums  have  good  orchards,  and 
others  raise  some  small  fruit.  How  few,  though,  raise 
as  much  either  of  fruit  or  garden  stuff  as  they  should. 
We  like  to  encourage  those  in  charge  to  grow  all  the 

133 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

garden  vegetables  they  can,  both  for  eating  fresh  and 
putting  away  for  winter  use.  Beds  of  rhubarb  and 
asparagus  are  not  difficult  to  establish,  and  when  once 
prepared  last  for  years,  affording  both  healthful  and 
nutritious  food.  It  is  not  difficult  to  grow  an  abun- 
dance of  dry  beans,  winter  squashes,  pumpkins,  or  to 
raise  a  sufficient  supply  of  tomatoes,  pickles,  cabbage, 
beets  and  turnips  to  last  through  the  winter.  A  suffi- 
cient supply  of  potatoes  is  generally  grown.  One  poor- 
asylum  superintendent  takes  a  special  pride  in  growing 
sweet  potatoes.  He  was  found  to  have  one  room  in 
the  cellar  with  sweet  potatoes  corded  to  the  floor  above, 
in  ricks  like  stove  wood,  and  he  said  they  usually  had 
enough  to  last  the  inmates  until  spring,  and  plenty 
to  spare  to  others.  Another  superintendent  takes  a 
special  pride  in  his  squashes  and  pumpkins.  He  was 
visited  in  the  fall,  just  when  he  had  finished  unloading 
three  full  forty-bushel  wagonbeds  for  the  use  of  the 
inmates,  and  had  taken  two  or  three  times  that  many 
to  the  barn  for  the  stock.  Another  superintendent  is 
an  expert  in  growing  watermelons.  During  the  season 
the  inmates  who  wish  have  them  three  times  a  day,  until 
they  become  tired  of  them.  After  frost  had  killed  the 
vines,  he  had  two  or  three  wagon  loads  in  the  yard 
covered  with  corn-fodder,  so  that  they  might  be 
available  for  whoever  wanted  them  as  long  as  they 
were  good. 

"Some  of  these  things,  of  course,  depend  upon  lo- 
cality; others  upon  the  experience  of  the  superinten- 
dent. There  is  no  reason,  however,  why  every  institu- 
tion should  not  grow  an  abundance  of  small  fruits — 
currants,  gooseberries,  strawberries,  blackberries,  rasp- 
berries, grapes,  plums,  and  cherries.  They  can  be 
grown  in  every  part  of  our  state.  They  require  a  little 
care,  but  that  care  is  such  as  could  be  rendered,  fre- 
quently by  persons  who  cannot  perform  ordinary 
manual  labor.  The  weeding  of  plants,  trimming  of 
vines,  or  picking  fruit  are  duties  which  often  can  be  as- 
signed to  inmates  who  cannot  render  some  other  ser- 
vice.   Thus,  between  the  vegetable  garden  and  small 

134 


MISCELLANEOUS 

fruit  patch  much  could  be  grown  that  would  be  valuable 
not  only  through  its  season,  but  also  through  the  winter 
following,  as  a  healthful  article  of  food.  At  the  same 
time  the  fresh  fruit,  as  well  as  the  labor  expended  in 
growing  it,  would  be  helpful  to  the  inmates  and  a 
lessening  of  expense  to  the  county/' 


REPAIRS 

There  is  no  greater  extravagance  than  a  neglect 
of  necessary  repairs.  The  adage  of  "a  stitch  in 
time"  emphatically  applies  here.  The  writer  once 
saw  a  whole  system  of  state  institutions,  some 
fifteen  or  sixteen  in  number,  allowed  to  run  down, 
because  a  new  governor  with  a  passion  for  what 
he  called  '* economy/'  elected  on  a  party  ticket 
that  had  been  defeated  regularly  for  many  years, 
had  preached  saving  of  money  to  the  managers 
who  belonged  exclusively  to  his  party,  and  whom 
he  had  appointed.  The  result  was  that  repairs, 
when  they  were  made  a  few  years  later,  cost  three 
or  four  times  more  than  would  have  been  the  case 
had  they  been  kept  up  to  date. 

It  is  much  better,  and  cheaper  in  the  long  run,  to 
lay  a  good  new  floor,  than  to  cover  up  an  old  rot- 
ten one  with  linoleum  or  other  covering.  Roofs 
that  begin  to  leak  should  be  repaired  without  the 
loss  of  a  day's  time.  When  plastering  begins  to 
show  cracks  or  get  loose  in  one  corner,  prompt 
and  thorough  repair  is  the  only  course.  A  good 
coat  of  paint  is  often  an  excellent  investment. 
Woodwork  should  never  be  exposed  either  inside 

135 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

or  outside  the  house  without  proper  painting  or 
other  permanent  finish. 

The  making  of  repairs  will  often  be  found  a 
useful  occupation  for  certain  of  the  inmates. 
These  repairs,  however,  must  be  only  minor  ones. 
When  roofs  leak  or  downspouts  break,  and  espe- 
cially when  internal  plumbing  gets  out  of  order, 
the  services  of  competent  mechanics  must  imme- 
diately be  secured. 

ENTERTAINMENTS  AND  AMUSEMENTS 

Life  in  an  institution  of  any  kind  grows  mo- 
notonous, and  this  is  especially  true  of  life  in  an 
almshouse.  Anything  that  will  break  this  mo- 
notony and  promote  happiness  and  cheerfulness 
should  be  encouraged. 

Every  almshouse  should  possess  a  small  library 
of  entertaining  books,  and  by  subscription  or  gift 
should  regularly  receive  a  few  newspapers  and 
magazines.  The  county  papers  will  usually  put 
the  almshouse  on  their  free  list  if  requested,  while 
magazines  are  now  so  cheap  and  popular  that  it  is 
not  difficult  to  secure  a  full  supply.  The  pictures 
with  which  most  of  these  are  illustrated  make 
them  attractive  to  people  who  read  with  difficulty, 
and  even  the  advertising  pages  are  looked  over 
with  pleasure. 

Besides  books,  papers,  and  magazines,  other 
forms  of  entertainment  for  the  inmates  should  be 
studied.     Often  an  inmate  will  be  found  with  a 

136 


MISCELLANEOUS 

fair  education  and  a  good  voice  who  may  be  in- 
duced to  spend  an  hour  occasionally,  in  the  evening, 
reading  aloud  to  the  others  who  are  less  accom- 
plished. Often  some  member  of  the  staff  can  be 
pressed  into  the  service,  or  visitors  can  sometimes 
be  induced  to  come  regularly,  either  in  the  after- 
noons or  evenings,  for  the  purpose.  If  the  alms- 
house is  near  a  town  or  city  it  is  often  possible 
to  get  young  people's  societies  of  the  churches 
to  give  pleasant  entertainments.  The  Epworth 
League  or  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  will 
frequently  respond  to  an  invitation  of  the  sort.* 
In  a  certain  city  a  Ladies'  Musical  Society  gives 
three  or  four  concerts  each  winter  in  the  neigh- 
boring almshouse.  A  gentleman  known  for  his 
good  works  of  all  kinds,  who  owns  a  graphophone, 
goes  out  with  it  occasionally  to  the  almshouse  to 
amuse  the  old  people.  When  the  records  with 
the  campaign  speeches  of  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  Mr. 
Bryan  were  published  a  few  years  ago,  some  of  the 
old  men  expressed  great  delight  at  hearing  these 
celebrated  speakers. 

Games  like  checkers,  dominoes,  and  cards  should 
be  permitted  and  encouraged,  although  gambling 
should  of  course  be  forbidden.  It  is  easy,  es- 
pecially about  holiday  time,  to  get  a  supply  of 
game  material  as  well  as  of  gifts.  A  notice  in  the 
county  paper  that  the  superintendent  is  arranging 


*  In  one  small  country  town,  the  members  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavor Society  regularly  collect  magazines  from  their  friends,  and 
take  them  to  the  almshouse  and  the  jail,  for  the  use  of  the  inmates. 


37 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

a  Christmas  treat  for  the  inmates  and  asks  con- 
tributions of  gifts  for  the  old  men  and  women  will 
almost  certainly  bring  a  supply,  especially  if  he 
mentions  the  sorts  of  games,  and  pipes,  ribbons, 
combs,  and  other  things  that  he  would  like  to 
have.  National  and  other  holidays  should  also 
always  be  observed  in  appropriate  ways. 


38 


APPENDICES 


APPENDIX  I 

EVILS  OF  PROMISCUOUS  MINGLING  OF 
CLASSES  IN  THE  ALMSHOUSE 

Extract  from  the  Minority  Report  oj  the  British  Poor  Law 
Commission,  igog 

NOTHING  can  be  stronger  than  the  condemna- 
tion in  the  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission 
of  1 834  of  the  general  mixed  workhouse,  whether 
large  or  small,  old  or  newly  designed  for  its  purpose. 
The  assistant  commissioners  had  found,  in  the  great 
majority  of  parishes,  the  workhouse  "occupied  by 
sixty  or  eighty  paupers,  made  up  of  a  dozen  or  more 
neglected  children  (under  the  care,  perhaps,  of  a 
pauper),  about  twenty  or  thirty  able-bodied  adult 
paupers  of  both  sexes,  and  probably  an  equal  number 
of  aged  and  impotent  persons,  proper  objects  of  relief. 
Amidst  these  the  mothers  of  bastard  children  and 
prostitutes  live  without  shame.  ...  To  these 
may  often  be  added  a  solitary  blind  person,  one  or  two 
idiots,  and  not  infrequently  are  heard,  from  among  the 
rest,  the  incessant  ravings  of  some  neglected  lunatic. 
In  such  receptacles  the  sick  poor  are  often  immured." 

On  account  of  the  inevitable  association  of  the  differ- 
ent classes,  even  the  largest  and  best  designed  general 
mixed  workhouses  were  equally  condemned.  "Even 
in  the  larger  workhouses,''  continues  the  report, 
"internal   subdivisions  do  not  afford   the  means  of 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

classification,  where  the  inmates  dine  in  the  same  rooms, 
or  meet  or  see  each  other  in  the  ordinary  business  of 
the  place.  In  the  largest  houses,  containing  from 
800  to  1000  inmates,  where  there  is  comparatively 
good  order,  and,  in  many  respects,  superior  manage- 
ment, it  is  almost  impossible  to  prevent  the  formation 
and  extension  of  vicious  connections.  Inmates  who 
see  each  other,  though  prevented  from  communication 
in  the  house,  often  become  associates  when  they  meet 
out  of  it.  It  is  found  almost  impracticable  to  subject 
all  the  various  classes  within  the  same  house  to  an 
appropriate  treatment.  One  part  of  a  class  of  adults 
often  so  closely  resembles  a  part  of  another  class,  as 
to  make  any  distinction  in  treatment  appear  arbitrary 
and  capricious  to  those  who  are  placed  in  the  inferior 
class,  and  to  create  discontent  which  the  existing 
authority  is  too  feeble  to  suppress,  and  so  much  com- 
plexity as  to  render  the  object  attainable  only  by  great 
additional  expense  and  remarkable  skill.''  Hence, 
stated  the  report,  "at  least  four  classes  are  necessary — 
the  aged  and  really  impotent,  the  children,  the  able- 
bodied  females,  the  able-bodied  males,''  for  each  of 
which  distinct  institutions  were  to  be  provided.  "  Each 
class,"  continues  the  report,  "might  thus  receive  an 
appropriate  treatment;  the  old  might  enjoy  their 
indulgences  without  torment  from  the  boisterous; 
the  children  be  educated;  and  the  able-bodied  sub- 
jected to  such  courses  of  labour  and  discipline  as  will 
repel  the  indolent  and  vicious." 

We  regret  to  have  to  report  that,  notwithstanding 
the  distinct  and  emphatic  recommendations  of  the 
Report  of  1834,  to  which  it  is  commonly  assumed  that 
Parliament  gave  a  general  endorsement  by  the  Poor 
Law  Amendment  Act  of  1834,  the  general  mixed  work- 

142 


APPENDIX    I 

house  has  not  been  abolished.  In  the  course  of  the 
past  half-century,  a  certain  number  of  specialized 
institutions  such  as  Poor  Law  Schools  and  Poor  Law 
Infirmaries,  to  be  hereafter  described,  have  been  estab- 
lished for  the  children  and  the  sick  of  certain  districts. 
But  every  one  of  the  Unions  of  England,  Wales,  and 
Ireland,  and  now  a  large  number  of  parishes  of  Scot- 
land, has  its  general  mixed  workhouse;  and  the  great 
majority  of  the  non-able-bodied  poor  for  whom  insti- 
tutional treatment  is  provided  are  still  to  be  found 
intermingled  with  the  able-bodied  men  and  women  in 
these  institutions.  Of  the  50,000  children  who  are 
in  Poor  Law  institutions  in  England  and  Wales,  there 
are  still  15,000  living  actually  inside  general  mixed 
workhouses.  We  found  that  in  Scotland,  where  it  is 
commonly  assumed  that  the  Poor  Law  children  are 
either  boarded  out  or  maintained  upon  outdoor  relief, 
there  were  1,845  children  in  the  general  mixed  work- 
houses, or  not  far  short  of  as  many  in  proportion  to 
population  as  in  England  itself.  In  Ireland,  out  of 
9,000  children  maintained  in  Poor  Law  institutions, 
no  fewer  than  8,000  are  in  the  general  mixed  work- 
houses, where  their  condition  is  the  worse  in  that  they 
do  not  even  go  out  to  the  public  elementary  day  school, 
but  are  taught  on  the  workhouse  premises.  Nor  is 
it  otherwise  with  the  sick  and  the  aged.  Of  the  un- 
counted host  of  inmates  of  Poor  Law  institutions  who 
are  so  sick  or  infirm  as  to  need  nursing  or  medical 
attendance, — estimated  to  number  in  the  United 
Kingdom  at  least  130,000, — more  than  two-thirds  are 
in  general  mixed  workhouses.  Of  the  140,000  persons 
over  sixty  in  Poor  Law  institutions,  only  a  thousand 
or  two  in  England  and  Scotland,  and  none  at  all  in 
Ireland,   are  in   the   separate  establishments   recom- 

143 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

mended  by  the  Report  of  1834,  where  "the  old  might 
enjoy  their  indulgences  without  torment  from  the 
boisterous/' 

Commingled  with  this  mass  of  non-able-bodied  or 
dependent  poor  there  may  be  found,  in  all  the  work- 
houses of  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland,  and  in  the 
poorhouses  of  Scotland,  a  number  of  men  and  women 
in  health  and  in  the  prime  of  life — termed  "able- 
bodied"  in  England,  Wales  and  Ireland,  and  "tests" 
or  "turn-outs"  in  Scotland — who  are  scarcely  capable, 
from  physical  or  mental  defects,  of  earning  a  con- 
tinuous livelihood.  In  the  mammoth  establishments 
of  London,  Glasgow,  Liverpool,  Dublin,  and  Belfast 
we  found  even  a  considerable  number  of  really  able- 
bodied  and  mentally  competent  men  and  women  who 
are  "work-shy"  or  merely  unemployed  through  mis- 
fortune— some  of  them  being  chronic  "ins  and  outs," 
or,  as  the  Scotch  say,  "week-enders,"  who,  whilst 
they  add  comparatively  little  to  the  official  statistics 
of  indoor  pauperism,  are  a  perpetual  cause  of  demorali- 
sation of  the  other  inmates.  In  fact,  the  general  mixed 
workhouse,  including  all  classes  of  destitute  persons, 
far  from  having  been  abolished,  forms  today  the  basis 
of  the  whole  system  of  poor  relief  in  England  and 
Wales;  it  has,  within  the  last  century,  spread  all  over 
Ireland;  and  we  even  see  it,  during  the  last  decade, 
growing  up  in  its  worst  forms  in  Scotland,  which  had 
formerly  been  free  from  its  baneful  influence. 

We  see  no  reason  to  differ  from  our  predecessors, 
the  Royal  Commissioners  of  1834,  in  their  decisive 
condemnation  of  the  general  mixed  workhouse.  We 
do  not  wish  to  suggest  or  imply  that  the  workhouses 
of  today  are  places_of  cruelty;   or  that  their  250,000 

144 


APPENDIX   I 

inmates  are  subjected  to  any  deliberate  ill-treatment. 
These  institutions  are,  in  nearly  all  cases,  clean  and 
sanitary;  and  the  food,  clothing  and  warmth  are 
sufficient — sometimes  more  than  sufficient — to  main- 
tain the  inmates  in  physiological  health.  1  n  some  cases, 
indeed,  the  buildings  recently  erected  in  the  Metropolis 
and  elsewhere  have  been  not  incorrectly  described, 
alike  for  the  elaborateness  of  the  architecture  and  the 
sumptuousness  of  the  internal  fittings,  as  "palaces  for 
paupers.''  In  many  other  places,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  old  and  straggling  premises  still  in  use,  even  in 
some  of  the  largest  Unions,  are  hideous  in  their  bare- 
ness and  squalor.  But  whether  new  or  old,  urban  or 
rural,  large  or  small,  sumptuous  or  squalid,  these 
establishments  exhibit  the  same  inherent  defects. 
We  do  not  ignore  the  zeal  and  devotion  by  means  of 
which  an  exceptionally  good  master  and  matron, 
under  an  exceptionally  enlightened  committee,  here 
and  there,  for  a  brief  period,  succeed  in  mitigating, 
or  even  in  counteracting,  the  evil  tendencies  of  a  general 
mixed  institution.  But  these  evil  tendencies,  exactly 
as  they  were  noted  by  the  Commissioners  of  1834, 
are  always  at  work;  and  sooner  or  later  they  have  pre- 
vailed, in  every  Union  of  which  we  have  investigated 
the  history. 

After  visiting  personally  workhouses  of  all  types, 
new  and  old,  large  and  small,  in  town  and  country, 
in  England  and  Wales,  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  we 
find  that  the  descriptions  of  the  workhouses  of  1834, 
so  far  as  we  have  quoted  them  above,  might  be  applied, 
word  by  word,  to  many  of  the  workhouses  of  today. 
The  dominant  note  of  these  institutions  of  today, 
as  it  was  of  those  of  1834,  is  their  promiscuity.  We 
have  ourselves  seen,  in  the  larger  workhouses,  the  male 
10  145 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

and  female  inmates,  not  only  habitually  dining  in  the 
same  room  in  each  other's  presence,  but  even  working 
individually,  men  and  women  together,  in  laundries 
and  kitchens,  and  enjoying  in  the  open  yards  and  long 
corridors  innumerable  opportunities  to  make  each 
other's  acquaintance.  It  is,  we  find,  in  these  large 
establishments  a  common  occurrence  for  assignations 
to  be  made  by  inmates  of  different  sexes,  as  to  spend- 
ing together  the  "day  out,"  or  as  to  simultaneously 
taking  the  temporary  discharge  as  "ins  and  outs."  It 
has  not  surprised  us  to  be  informed  that  female  inmates 
of  these  great  establishments  have  been  known  to  bear 
offspring  to  male  inmates  and  thus  increase  the  burden 
on  the  poor  rate. 

No  less  distressing  has  it  been  to  discover  a  con- 
tinuous intercourse,  which  we  think  must  be  injurious, 
between  young  and  old,  innocent  and  hardened.  In 
the  female  dormitories  and  day-rooms  women  of  all 
ages,  and  of  the  most  varied  characters  and  conditions, 
necessarily  associate  together,  without  any  kind  of 
constraint  on  their  mutual  intercourse.  There  are  no 
separate  bedrooms;  there  are  not  even  separate 
cubicles.  The  young  servant  out  of  a  place,  the 
prostitute  recovering  from  disease,  the  feeble-minded 
woman  of  any  age,  the  girl  with  her  first  baby,  the 
unmarried  mother  coming  in  to  be  confined  of  her 
third  or  fourth  bastard,  the  senile,  the  paralytic,  the 
epileptic,  the  respectable  deserted  wife,  the  widow  to 
whom  outdoor  relief  has  been  refused,  are  all  herded 
indiscriminately  together.  We  have  found  respectable 
old  women  annoyed,  by  day  and  by  night,  by  the 
presence  of  noisy  and  dirty  imbeciles.  "Idiots  who 
are  physically  offensive  or  mischievous,  or  so  noisy 
as  to  create  a  disturbance  by  day  and  by  night  with 

146 


APPENDIX    I 

their  howls,  are  often  found  in  workhouses  mixing 
with  others  both  in  the  sick  wards  and  in  the  body  of 
the  house."  We  have  ourselves  seen,  in  one  large 
workhouse,  pregnant  women  who  have  come  in  to  be 
confined,  compelled  to  associate  day  and  night  and  to 
work  side  by  side  with  half-witted  imbeciles  and  women 
so  physically  deformed  as  to  be  positively  repulsive 
to  look  upon. 

In  the  smaller  country  workhouses,  though  the 
promiscuity  is  numerically  less  extensive,  and,  in  some 
respects,  of  less  repulsive  character,  the  very  smallness 
of  the  numbers  makes  any  segregation  of  classes  even 
more  impracticable  than  in  the  larger  establishments. 
A  large  proportion  of  these  workhouses  have,  for 
instance,  no  separate  sick-ward  for  children,  and,  in 
spite  of  the  ravages  of  measles,  etc.,  not  even  a  quaran- 
tine ward  for  the  constant  stream  of  newcomers. 
Accordingly,  in  the  sick  wards  of  the  smaller  work- 
houses, with  no  constraint  on  mutual  intercourse, 
we  have  more  than  once  seen  young  children  in  bed 
with  minor  ailments,  next  to  women  of  bad  character 
under  treatment  for  contagious  diseases,  whilst  other 
women,  in  the  same  ward,  were  in  advanced  stages  of 
cancer  and  senile  decay.  Our  Children's  Investigator 
reports,  after  visiting  many  workhouses  in  town  and 
country,  "that  children  when  detained  in  the  work- 
house always  come  -into  contact  with  the  ordinary 
inmates.  Certainly,  in  a  country  workhouse  this  seems 
impossible  to  avoid.  Paupers  are  always  employed 
to  help  with  the  rough  scrubbing  and  cleaning,  and 
though  matrons  invariably  try  to  send  the  more 
respectable  women  into  the  children's  quarters,  often 
the  only  women  available  are  the  mothers  of  illegitimate 
babies."     In    many    workhouses   we   have   ourselves 

147 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

found  the  children  having  their  meals  in  the  same  room 
and  at  the  same  times  as  the  adult  inmates  of  both  sexes, 
of  all  ages,  and  of  the  most  different  conditions  and 
characters.  Even  the  imbeciles  and  the  feeble- 
minded are  to  be  found  in  the  same  dining-halls  as  the 
children.  In  some  workhouses,  at  any  rate,  the  boys 
over  eight  years  of  age  have  actually  to  spend  the  long 
hours  of  the  night  in  the  same  dormitories  as  the  adult 
men.  In  all  the  small  workhouses  and  in  many  of  the 
larger  ones,  the  infants  are  wholly  attended  to  by, 
and  are  actually  in  charge  of,  aged,  and  often  mentally 
defective  paupers;  the  able-bodied  mothers  having, 
during  the  first  year,  daily  access  to  their  own  babies 
for  nursing,  and,  subsequently,  such  opportunities  for 
visiting  the  common  nursery  as  the  master  may  decide. 
In  the  better  managed,  and  in  the  largest  establish- 
ments the  nursery  is,  it  is  true,  in  charge  of  a  salaried 
nurse,  but  even  here  the  handling  of  babies  is  mostly 
left  to  pauper  inmates.  However  desirable-  may 
be  the  intercourse  between  an  infant  and  its  own 
degraded  mother,  it  is  not  to  the  advantage  of  the 
scores  of  infants  in  the  nursery  to  be  perpetually  in 
close  companionship,  for  the  first  three  or  four  or  five 
years  of  their  lives,  with  a  stream  of  mothers  of  various 
types  that  we  have  mentioned.  Such  a  nursery 
embedded  in  the  midst  of  an  institution  containing  not 
merely  hundreds,  but  thousands  of  paupers  of  the  most 
diverse  classes,  is  impregnated  through  and  through 
with  the  atmosphere  of  pauperism. 


148 


APPENDIX  II 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  BRITISH  WORKHOUSE 
SYSTEM 

When  American  students  of  philanthropy  begin  to 
compare  our  own  methods  with  those  of  other  countries, 
as  every  student  should,  they  are  always  surprised 
to  find  that  the  public  indoor  relief  of  the  poor  is  done 
in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  in  what  are  called  "work- 
houses/* The  term  in  this  country  means  a  minor 
prison,  or;  as  it  is  usually  called,  a  "  House  of  Correction/' 

A  few  words  on  the  origin  of  the  British  system  may 
be  useful.* 

The  giving  of  public  relief  in  England,  as  distin- 
guished from  private  charity  and  the  benevolence  of 
the  churches  or  the  "Charitable  Foundations,''  was 
first  provided  for  in  the  law  of  1535,!  which  was,  at 

*  The  author  believes  that  the  space  devoted  to  this  sketch  will  be 
justified  if  it  has  the  effect  of  directing  anyone  interested  in  the  various 
relief-by-employment  schemes  of  the  present,  to  study  the  failures 
and  mistakes  of  the  past.  There  is  no  more  popular  theory  of  the 
best  relief  of  able-bodied  people  than  that  of  setting  them  to  work. 
There  is  no  kind  of  relief  known  to  the  author  so  difficult  to  manage, 
so  doubtfully  beneficial,  so  fraught  with  danger  of  unexpected  ill 
results.  Any  student  wishing  to  pursue  the  study  to  greater  length, 
will  find  a  very  full  and  elaborate  account  of  the  history  which  is 
here  briefly  outlined,  in  NichoH's  History  of  the  English  Poor  Law, 
Vol.  II. 

t  All  the  numerous  previous  enactments,  during  a  period  of  more 
than  twelve  hundred  years,  had  been  directed  towards  the  punishment 
of  beggars  and  vagrants,  and  of  those  who  gave  to  or  harbored  them, 
(See  Turner,  C.  J,  Ribton:  History  of  Vagrants  and  Vagrancy,  Chap- 
man and  Hall,  London,  1887.)  The  penalties  prescribed  were  ex- 
cessively severe,  even  for  those  days,  and  included  whipping,  brand- 

149 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

least  partly,  made  necessary  by  the  dissolution  of 
the  monasteries  about  that  period.  This  law  discrimi- 
nates between  "poor,  impotent,  sick,  and  diseased 
people  being  not  able  to  work''  who  may  be  "provided, 
holpen,  and  relieved'';  and  "such  as  be  lusty,  having 
their  limbs  strong  enough  to  labour,"  who  "may 
be  daily  kept  in  continual  labour,  whereby  every  one 
of  them  may  get  their  own  living  with  their  own 
hands." 

From  that  first  law  which  merely  directed  that  able- 
bodied  dependents  should  be  relieved  by  work,  but 
provided  no  method  of  doing  it,  laws  of  increasing 
defmiteness  directed  towards  the  same  end  were 
enacted.  In  1562,  for  instance,  persons  without  property, 
between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  sixty,  might  be  com- 
pelled by  two  magistrates,  or  by  the  mayor  with  two 
aldermen,  to  work  on  farms,  or  if  they  had  a  trade,  to 
work  at  that.  Thirteen  years  later  a  law  provided 
that  "stores  of  wool,  hemp,  and  iron"  should  be  kept 
ready  to  provide  work  for  the  able-bodied,  and  refusal 
to  work  subjected  the  pauper  to  severe  punishment. 

An  Act  of  1597  (39  Elizabeth  C.  3)  was  the  result 
of  the  deliberation  of  a  special  committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  upon  which  Sir  Francis  Bacon  sat  as  a 
member.  Among  its  provisions  was  one  for  erecting 
hospitals  and  working  homes  for  the  poor;    but  no 

ing,  cropping  the  ears,  and  hanging.  When  severe  laws  were  found  to 
have  no  effect,  they  were  supplemented  by  others  of  greater  severity 
which  were  equally  ineffectual,  and  beggary  and  vagrancy  continued 
and  increased.  "It  was  impossible  to  successfully  carry  out  enact- 
ments so  essentially  adverse  to  the  views  then  current  as  to  the  religious 
duties  of  almsgiving  so  long  as  the  ecclesiastical  charities  were  in 
existence  and  were  conducted  on  the  principles  which  then  governed 
them.  It  is  clearly  illogical  on  the  one  hand  to  regard  almsgiving  as  a 
work  well-pleasing  to  God,  and  on  the  other  to  treat  asking  for  alms 
as  a  capital  crime."  (Aschrott,  Paul  Felix:  The  English  Poor-Law 
System.    London,  Knight,  1888.) 

150 


APPENDIX   II 

working  homes  seem  to  have  been  built.  England  in 
the  sixteenth  century  seems  to  have  had  the  same 
weakness  that  is  apparent  in  the  United  States  in  the 
twentieth,  of  enacting  laws  which  speedily  became 
dead  letters  on  the  statute  books. 

The  well  known  Act,  the  43rd  Elizabeth,  C.  2,  in 
1 60 1,  was  in  part  a  codification  of  the  acts  of  the 
previous  sixty  years.  It  provided  for  overseers  of  the 
poor  whose  duty  was  (i)  to  take  measures,  with  the 
consent  of  two  justices,  for  setting  to  work  children 
whose  parents  were  unable  to  maintain  them;  (2) 
also  to  set  to  work  persons  who,  having  no  means  of 
support,  did  nothing  to  earn  a  living;  (3)  to  raise 
weekly  by  taxation  of  every  inhabitant  and  occupier, 
such  sums  as  they  should  think  fit — (a)  for  obtaining 
a  convenient  store  of  flax,  hemp,  wool,  and  other 
necessaries  for  the  poor  to  work  upon;  (b)  for  relieving 
the  lame,  impotent,  blind,  and  others  unable  to  work; 
(c)  for  putting  out  poor  children  as  apprentices. 

Still  the  laws  about  labor  were  ineffective.  In 
the  literature  of  the  period*  we  often  meet  with  com- 
plaints that  the  poor  rates  were  not  regularly  paid 
and  that  sufficient  materials  for  the  employment  of 
the  able-bodied  were  not  provided. 

In  1646  a  pamphlet  was  published  entitled  Stanley's 
Remedy,  in  which  the  author  complained  that  people 
were  punished  as  beggars  for  not  working,  while  there 
were  no  places  where  they  could  be  employed.  The 
"remedy"  proposed  was  the  erection  of  workhouses, 
in  towns,  villages,  and  other  suitable  places. 

Here  we  meet  for  the  first  time  with  the  workhouse, 

*  See  Eden,  Sir  Frederick  Morton:  The  State  of  the  Poor.  3  vols. 
London,  1793.  Also  Pashley's  Pauperism  and  Poor  Laws.  London, 
1852.  These  give  much  information  as  to  the  administration  of  the 
Act  of  Elizabeth  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

which  has  played  so  important  a  part  in  the  EngHsh 
reHef  system  as  since  developed.  While  the  Act  of 
Elizabeth  provided  only  for  the  establishment  of  "con- 
venient houses  of  dwelling"  for  the  impotent  poor,  the 
"House"  was  here  indicated  as  a  means  of  furnishing 
employment  for  the  able-bodied. 

The  proposal  seems  to  have  met  with  all  the  more 
favor  because  an  Act  of  Charles  II,  for  the  division  of 
parishes  into  townships,  had  made  it  additionally 
difficult  for  the  smaller  districts  to  provide  employ- 
ment for  the  able-bodied,  and  thus  hindered  the  carry- 
ing out  of  the  above-named  requirement,  that  they 
should  be  "set  to  work."  In  a  pamphlet  published  in 
London  in  1687,  entitled  "Some  proposals  for  the 
employing  of  the  poor,  especially  in  and  about  the  City 
of  London,  and  for  the  prevention  of  begging,"  Thomas 
Firman,  a  friend  of  Archbishop  Tillotson,  recommended 
the  erection  of  workhouses  in  which  the  poor  might 
be  occupied  with  remunerative  work  in  different  trades. 
In  1683,  Sir  Matthew  Hale  published  a  "Discourse 
touching  provision  for  the  Poor,"  in  which  he  character- 
ized the  Act  of  Elizabeth,  with  its  care  for  the  poor, 
as  "an  Act  of  great  civil  prudence  and  political  wis- 
dom." He  also  advocated  the  erection  of  workhouses 
for  the  able-bodied. 

In  1697,  under  a  special  Act  of  Parliament,  a  work- 
house was  established  in  Bristol.  The  good  results 
which  followed  in  that  city,  especially  in  the  diminution 
of  mendicancy,  led  to  the  adoption  of  a  similar  measure 
in  1703  in  Worcester,  and  in  1707  in  Plymouth  and 
other  places. 

After  the  workhouse  had  been  successfully  tried  in 
particular  places,  the  legislature  advanced  a  step  (by 
the  Act  9  Geo.  I,  C.  7,  of  1723)  towards  securing  its 

152 


APPENDIX   II 

introduction  elsewhere.  It  was  ordered  that  parishes 
should  be  entitled,  singly  or  in  combination,  to  build, 
buy,  or  hire  workhouses,  and  that  any  poor  person 
refusing  to  enter  one  of  such  houses  should  "not  be 
entitled  to  ask  or  receive  collection  or  relief." 

The  improvement  in  poor  law  administration  by 
this  stringent  provision,  and  indeed  by  the  Act  of  1723 
generally,  is  shown  by  Eden,  who  points  out  that,  in 
consequence  of  this  law,  a  large  number  of  persons  who 
had  previously  received  relief  preferred  to  maintain 
themselves  rather  than  seek  admission  to  the  work- 
house. Lord  Mansfield  in  1782,  is  quoted  as  declaring 
that  in  parishes  where  well  regulated  workhouses  had 
been  established  under  the  Act  of  1723,  the  poor  rate 
had  diminished  one-half.  Some  result,  at  any  rate 
of  deterrence,  was  made  plain  by  the  steady  decrease 
of  the  poor  rate  concurrent  with  an  increase  of  the 
population.  The  expenditure  for  poor  relief,  which 
in  1698  was  estimated  at  819,000  pounds,  had  in  1750 
sunk  to  619,000  pounds. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  even  at  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  and  in  the  first  few  years  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  notwithstanding  its  apparent  good  results, 
the  system  of  employing  able-bodied  men  in  the  work- 
house or,  as  it  was  then  called,  the  "  Industrial  House,'' 
met  with  some  opposition.  Daniel  Defoe  attacked  it 
in  his  "Giving  Alms  no  Charity  and  Employment  of 
the  Poor  a  Grievance  to  the  Nation"  (London,  1704). 
He  pointed  out  the  effect  of  the  competition  of  the 
Industrial  Houses  with  the  trades  already  established: 
"  If  they  will  employ  the  poor  in  some  manufacture 
which  was  not  made  in  England  before,  or  not  bought 
with  some  manufacture  made  here  before,  then  they 
offer  something  extraordinary.     But  to  set  poor  people 

153 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

at  work  on  the  same  thing  that  other  people  were 
employed  on  before,  and  at  the  same  time  not  increase 
the  consumption,  is  giving  to  one  what  you  take  away 
from  another/'  Defoe's  argument  has  a  very  familiar 
sound.  It  reminds  us  of  some  of  the  objections  to  the 
economic  labor  of  prisoners. 

So  far  in  its  history,  and  up  to  the  passage  of  what 
was  called  Gilbert's  Act  in  1788,  the  workhouse  de- 
served its  name.  At  least  in  theory,  it  was  a  place  for 
work.  The  new  law  provided  for  the  union  of  parishes 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  relief  in  common  and  for  the 
erection  of  a  poorhouse.  It  also  introduced  the  system 
of  paid  guardians  of  the  poor,  who  should  be  appointed 
by  the  justices*  (the  unpaid  "justices  of  the  peace" 
of  England,  of  whom  we  so  often  hear  in  various  con- 
nections), so  leaving  to  the  overseers  only  the  work  of 
assessing  and  collecting  the  poor  rate.  It  also  provided 
for  "visitors"  who  were  to  inspect  the  poorhouse, 
for  the  regulation  of  which  the  act  went  into  minute 
detail.  Two  years  later  an  act  put  the  inspection  of 
poorhouses  upon  the  justices,  and  gave  them  other 
authority,  even  to  the  extent  of  revising,  amending, 
or  annulling  a  poor  rate  assessed  by  the  overseers. 

*  It  is  difficult  to  understand  the  powers  given  to  the  justices  of 
the  peace  in  England  in  the  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  centuries, 
unless  we  remember  that  they  were  invariably  members  of  the  govern- 
ing classes,  the  gentry  or  aristocracy.  The  squire,  the  rector,  the 
lord  of  the  manor,  were  appointed  justices  by  the  Crown,  but  were 
neither  paid  for  their  services  nor  held  to  a  very  strict  account  for 
their  acts.  They  held  court  when  and  where  they  pleased,  meeting 
for  more  serious  cases  in  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions,  but  judging 
petty  offenses  at  their  convenience.  As  they  were  usually  the  heaviest 
taxpayers,  at  least  in  country  districts,  their  powers  of  revision  of 
assessments  must  have  been  a  source  of  temptation.  As  they  were 
usually  game  preservers,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  were 
inclined  to  treat  poachers  rather  as  personal  offenders  against  them- 
selves than  as  lawbreakers.  Fortunately  most  of  them  were  educated 
men  who  had  a  high  conception  of  their  duty  to  the  country  and  their 
responsibility  to  their  own  tenants. 


APPENDIX   II 

Gilbert's  Act  was,  like  a  great  deal  of  British  legis- 
lation, of  a  tentative  nature.  It  was  not  compulsory. 
It  was  left  to  the  individual  districts  to  determine 
whether  to  adopt  it  and  so  avail  themselves  of  its 
provisions.  The  adoption  of  the  act  in  any  parish 
or  union  of  parishes  depended  on  the  assent  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  persons  assessed  to  the  poor  rate,  either 
as  owners  or  occupiers,  of  property  having  a  yearly 
value  of  five  pounds  and  upwards;  provided  that  their 
united  assessments  amounted  to  two-thirds  of  the  total 
assessment  of  the  parish  or  union  of  parishes.  The 
provisions  of  the  act  were  extended  by  subsequent 
acts  and  the  number  of  so-called  "Gilbert's  incorpora- 
tions" amounted,  in  the  year  1834,  to  67,  and  embraced 
924  parishes.  It  would  not  seem  after  all  to  have  been 
very  popular,  as  far  as  the  creation  of  unions  at  least, 
since  in  1834,  it  is  claimed,  there  were  15,535  parishes 
in  England. 

The  provisions  of  Gilbert's  Act,  however,  had  very 
important  results  with  regard  to  the  kind  of  relief  to 
be  given  as  well  as  with  regard  to  the  workhouse  or 
poorhouse  as  an  institution.  Gilbert's  "  poorhouse "  was 
not,  like  the  workhouse  of  the  year  1723,  an  industrial 
institution,  but  was  specially  designed  for  the  reception 
of  old  and  sick  persons,  of  mothers  with  illegitimate 
offspring  and  of  children  incapable  of  work.  In  direct 
contravention  of  the  Act  of  1723,  the  able-bodied  poor 
were  not  to  be  brought  in,  but  the  guardians  were  to  find 
them  work  near  their  own  houses  and  their  wages  were 
to  be  made  to  contribute  to  their  maintenance;  in  o:her 
words  (and  this  was  the  feature  that  worked  most  evil, 
directly  and  by  its  consequences,  of  any  poor-relief 
law  that  was  ever  enacted),  an  insufficient  wage  of  an 
able-bodied  man  was  to  be  supplemented  by  poor  relief. 

155 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

The  results  of  this  principle  which  first  appeared 
in  Gilbert's  Act,  have  made  English  poor  relief  notori- 
ous wherever  study  has  been  made  of  the  science  or 
history  of  charity.  The  so-called  "  Speenhamland 
Act"  (really  a  decision  of  some  Berkshire  justices), 
which  equalized  the  wage  of  every  man  by  adding  from 
the  poor  rates  the  amount  it  fell  short  of  the  adopted 
minimum  requirement  according  to  the  size  of  his 
family,  was  one  of  these  results.  Another  was  the 
inevitable  lowering  of  wages,  of  quality  and  quantity 
of  work,  and  of  worth  and  character  of  the  laborer. 

The  poorhouse  reached  its  maximum  of  evil  after 
Gilbert's  Act  was  generally  adopted  (it  was  not  neces- 
sary to  form  a  "union"  in  order  to  have  a  poorhouse), 
and  no  considerable  change  of  principles  occurred, 
except  as  certain  parishes,  under  enlightened  admin- 
istration, rose  above  the  average,  until  after  the  report 
of  the  Royal  Commission  of  1834.  What  that  Com- 
mission found  is  told  on  another  page.* 

The  Commission  of  1 832-1 834  recommended  that 
every  union  should  have  a  "workhouse" — all  parishes 
being  grouped  into  unions.  Here  was  to  be  the  main- 
spring of  reform,  in  administration. 

The  workhouse  was  to  supply  work  for  the  able- 
bodied  and  board  and  lodging  for  all.  Humanity 
demanded  that  those  unable  to  maintain  themselves 
should  be  adequately  supported.  On  the  other  hand, 
public  interest  required  that  such  support  should  not 
destroy  the  sense  of  independence  of  the  worker. 
The  position  and  condition  of  the  pauper  must  be  made 
"less  desirable  than  that  of  the  poorest  self-supporting 
laborer."     No   other    than    workhouse    relief    should 

*  See  Appendix  I,  page  141,  Report  of  the  British  Commission  on 
Poor  Laws. 

156 


APPENDIX   II 

be  granted,  so  that  the  bad  influence  of  the  former 
method  of  relief,  which  had  injured  the  minds,  habits, 
and  morals  of  the  working  classes,  should  be  in  future 
avoided.  The  laborer  would  thus  be  inspired  even 
to  provide  for  his  old  age.  The  workhouses  would 
soon  be  such  that  only  really  destitute  persons 
would  seek  relief  in  them.  This  would  be  the  only 
and  infallible  test  of  real  need. 

The  severity  of  the  above  pronouncements  was, 
however,  softened  by  other  provisions.  The  Com- 
mission urged  most  strongly  that  the  various  classes 
be  kept  separate,  that  the  feeble  and  aged  should  have 
different  treatment  from  the  strong,  that  the  sick  and 
the  children  should  be  kept  in  separate  institutions 
from  the  rest.  They  deplored  as  much  as  their  suc- 
cessors of  1909,  the  evils  of  the  mixed  workhouse. 

The  New  Reformed  Poor  Law  of  1834  went  into 
effect.  It  did  not  enact  all  that  the  Commission 
suggested.  It  did  provide  for  workhouses,  but  it 
omitted  the  separation  of  classes,  merely  providing 
that  the  insane  and  idiots  were  to  be  excluded.  In 
many  respects  the  act  fell  short  of  the  Report. 


57 


APPENDIX  III 

COUNTY  HOSPITALS 

Extract  from  Minutes  of  the  National  Conference  of  Charities 
and  Correction,  igo^* 

\V.  A.  Gates  of  San  Francisco,  Secretary  of  the  Cali- 
fornia State  Board  of  Charities,  said  as  follows: 

"We  have  a  large  system  of  county  hospitals,  as  we 
call  them,  in  the  state  of  California.  The  hospital  in 
California  answers  the  double  purpose  of  a  hospital 
and  an  almshouse.  We  have  many  sick  and  injured 
poor,  and  they  are  sent  to  the  county  hospital  for 
treatment.  Also  the  poor  who  become  permanently 
dependent  are  there  as  indigents  or  paupers.  Some 
of  the  larger  counties  have  two  separate  institutions: 
one  a  county  hospital  and  the  other  a  county  almshouse. 
I  am  sorry  to  say  that  we  have  large  numbers,  more 
than  we  ought  to  have,  of  inmates  in  our  county  alms- 
houses, but  1  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  they  are  not 
genuine  cases.  I  believe  that  conditions  are  such  as  to 
force  upon  us  in  California  more  paupers  to  be  cared 
for  in  county  institutions  than  is  really  our  proportion 
in  comparison  with  other  states.  Very  valuable  use 
is  made  of  the  county  hospital  in  California  as  a  place 
for  the  temporarily  sick  or  injured,  and  some  of  these 
hospitals  are  doing  very  effective  work.     We  have  a 

*  Proceedings  of  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
1905,  p.  594- 

158 


APPENDIX    III 

corps  of  nurses  and  in  some  of  the  county  hospitals  we 
have  schools  for  nurses.  In  one  institution  especially, 
the  hospital  at  San  Diego,  there  are  two  trained  nurses 
and  eight  girls  who  are  learning  to  be  nurses.  In  con- 
nection with  this  institution  there  are  twenty  single 
rooms  where  those  of  the  middle  class,  those  who  wish 
the  dollar-a-day  hospital,  for  instance,  can  go  and  be 
accommodated,  and  the  amount  of  money  received  from 
all  patients  at  this  hospital  has  run  as  high  as  J200 
a  month.  It  is  enough  on  the  average  through  the  year 
to  pay  for  all  the  cost  of  the  nursing  force.  1  think 
this  is  a  very  good  thing,  and  hope  to  see  it  increase. 
There  are  other  county  hospitals  almost  as  good  as  the 
one  I  have  spoken  of. 

"Now  as  to  some  of  the  statistics.  On  the  first 
of  last  January  we  had  2,899  paupers  in  the  hospitals,  of 
whom  only  347,  or  about  one-tenth,  are  women.  Al- 
most all  of  the  males  in  the  hospital  are  old  bachelors, 
so  that  you  see  the  women  of  California  have  been  able 
to  maintain  themselves,  and  keep  out  of  the  county 
poorhouses,  and  those  of  them  who  have  gotten  married 
have  been  able  to  keep  their  husbands  out.  The  con- 
clusion is  evident  to  the  unmarried  man. 

"In  the  number  of  sick  who  passed  through  our 
county  hospitals  last  year  there  were  about  14,000 
entered  and  about  12,000  discharged,  the  discharged 
including  very  largely  the  temporary  sick,  although  we 
have  no  means  of  distinguishing  as  far  as  hospital 
records  are  concerned.'' 


159 


APPENDIX  IV 

AVERAGE  NUMBER  OF   INMATES   IN  ALMS- 
HOUSES OF  TEN  STATES 

An  attempt  is  made  here  to  give  some  approximate 
idea  of  the  numbers  in  almshouses  of  ten  states  which 
may  be  taken  as  fairly  typical  of  the  different  parts  of 
the  country.  The  figures  are  taken  from  the  reports 
of  the  boards  of  state  charities,  and  are  grouped  so  as 
to  convey  a  better  impression  of  the  proportion  of 
inmates  in  institutions  of  the  different  sizes  than  would 
be  shown  by  taking  the  actual  average  of  all  institu- 
tions in  each  state. 


Number 

c 
California 

if  Insti- 
tutions 

Highest 

Number 

Lowest 
Number 

Average 

5 

400 

209 

278.0 

County  hospitals  *  . 

5 
31 

184 
96 

108 
26 

134.0 
474 

I    16 

2$ 

4 

14.7 

Connecticut 

I 
I 

•• 

•• 

995.0 
596.0 

Town  almshouses .  . 

3 
3 

259 
112 

173 

87 

234.0 

lOI.O 

10 

67 

30 

40.0 

i  69 

24 

I 

7-4 

*  See  Appendix  III,  page  158,  County  Hospitals. 
160 


APPENDIX   IV 

Number 

of  Insti- 

Illinois                              tutions 

Highest 
Number 

Lowest 
Number 

Average 

I 

3644* 

County  poorhouses 

lO 

32 
I  56 

197 
73 
25 

76 

27 

5 

1 12.0 

45-1 
13.2 

Indiana 

I 

179.0 

County  asylums  . . 

I 
48 

94 

26 

132.0 

43-5 

.  42 

25 

3 

16.3 

Massachusetts 

City  almshouse 

I 

101 1 .0 

Town  almshouses  . 

9 
20 

408 
89 

113 

27 

195.0 
41.9 

" 

199 

25 

' 

6.2 

New  HAMPSHiREf 

County  almshouses 

6 

4 

312 
91 

141 
42 

245-5 
63.0 

New  York 

2633.0 

City  almshouses  .  . 

15 

308 

117 

1695.0 
167.2 

County  almshouses. 

64 

411 

39 
330 

49.2 
716.0 
362.2 

36 

99 

31 

64.0 

*This  includes  1935  in  the  insane  asylum  and  303  in  the  tuber- 
culosis sanatorium,  each  of  which  is  a  part  of  the  poorhouse. 

t  See  Appendix  VIII,  page  iq8,  County  Houses  of  Correction  in 
New  Hampshire. 

II  161 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 


Number 
of  Insti- 
NoRTH  Carolina          tutions 

Highest 
Number 

Lowest 
Number 

Average 

County  houses / 

1   57 

82 
25 

28 

38.0 
II.O 

Pennsylvania 

City  almshouse.  ... 

I 

I 

4173.0* 
805.0 

6 

581 

317 

461.2 

County  almshouses. 

24 
24 

235 

98 

lOI 

29 

162.0 

64.6 

22 

19 

I 

8.7 

Virginia 

City  almshouses  . . . 

I 
I 

253.0 
144.0 

I 

77-ot 

Almshouses 

23 

27 

50 
19 

20 
10 

28.0 
13.4 

.  50 

10 

I 

5.0 

*  Including 

insane. 

t  Including  33  in  hospital  department. 


162 


APPENDIX  V 

A.  THE  INDIANA  LAW  GOVERNING  COUNTY 
ASYLUMS  (ALMSHOUSES) 

From  the  Indiana  Statutes  of  1899 
AN  ACT  to  regulate  the  management  of  county  asylums  for 
the  poor,  defining  the  method  of  appointing  superinten- 
dents and  other  officers,  defining  certain  duties  of  the 
commissioners  of  the  counties,  prescribing  the  method  of 
purchasing  supplies  and  selling  products,  the  discipline 
and  employment  of  inmates,  and  other  matters  pertain- 
ing thereto,  and  repealing  all  laws  or  parts  of  laws  in 
conflict  therewith. 

Section  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  Indiana,  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Board  of 
County  Commissioners  in  each  county  of  Indiana,  not  later 
than  the  second  Monday  of  June  next  after  the  taking  effect 
of  this  act  to  appoint  a  superintendent  of  the  county  asylum, 
who  will  serve  for  two  years  from  the  ist  day  of  September 
next  ensuing  unless  sooner  removed  for  cause  as  prescribed  in 
a  subsequent  section  of  this  act;  subsequent  appointments  on 
expiration  of  terms  or  on  vacancies  caused  by  resignation, 
shall  be  for  two-year  terms,  ending  on  August  3 1  of  any  year. 
Each  superintendent  appointed  according  to  the  terms  of  this 
act  shall  receive  such  annual  salary,  in  addition  to  quarters 
and  board  for  himself  and  family  in  the  county  asylums,  as 
shall  be  fixed  by  the  said  Board  of  County  Commissioners. 
Provided,  That  in  any  county  where  there  may  have  been  a 
superintendent  of  a  county  asylum  appointed  on  a  contract 
extending  beyond  the  date  aforesaid,  namely,  September  i, 

163 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

next  following  the  first  Monday  in  June  after  this  act  becomes 
of  effect,  then  the  appointment  under  the  provision  of  this  act 
shall  commence  at  the  expiration  of  aforesaid  contract,  and 
shall  be  for  a  term  of  so  much  less  than  two  years  as  the  period 
that  the  said  contract  runs  after  aforesaid  September  i.  In 
appointing  a  superintendent  of  the  poor  asylum,  the  com- 
missioners shall  select  a  reputable  citizen  of  good  moral 
character,  kind  and  humane  disposition,  good  executive 
ability,  who  has  had  a  good  common  school  education  and  is 
a  skilled  and  experienced  farmer.  No  considerations  other 
than  character,  competence  and  fitness  shall  be  allowed  to 
actuate  the  commissioners  in  selecting,  continuing  or  dis- 
charging any  superintendent  or  other  officer. 

Sec.  2.  The  Board  of  County  Commissioners  of  each 
county  shall  prescribe  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may,  in 
their  judgment,  be  necessa'ry  for  the  management  of  the 
asylum  for  the  poor.  With  the  advice  and  assistance  of  the 
superintendent  of  the  county  poor  asylum  they  shall  regulate 
the  number  and  fix  the  compensation  of  such  matrons,  assist- 
ants, nurses,  attendants,  farmers,  seamstresses,  laborers,  or 
other  employes  as  may  be  needed  for  the  care  and  control  of 
the  asylum.  They  may  remove  the  superintendent  from 
office,  at  any  time,  but  only  for  cause,  which  cause  shall  be 
entered  in  the  record  book  of  the  commissioners'  court.  In 
all  cases  the  terms  of  the  superintendents  of  county  asylums 
who  shall  be  appointed  pursuant  to  this  act,  shall  end  on  the 
thirty-first  day  of  August. 

Sec.  3.  The  superintendent  shall  appoint  such  matrons, 
assistants,  nurses,  farmers,  laborers,  or  other  employes  as  shall 
be  needed  for  the  work  of  the  asylum.  The  superintendent 
may  remove  and  dismiss  any  officer  or  employe  whom  he  shall 
have  appointed  at  any  time,  which  removal  he  shall  report  in 
writing  to  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners  at  their  next 
regular  meeting.  1 1  shall  be  his  duty  to  promptly  remove  any 
officer  or  employe  who  shall  be  guilty  of  drunkenness,  pro- 
fane or  abusive  language  in  the  presence  of  the  inmates, 
cruelty  to  the  inmates,  lewdness  or  any  other  offense  against 

164 


APPENDIX   V 

the  laws  of  Indiana  or  against  public  decency.  No  political, 
family  or  other  improper  influence  shall  be  allowed  to  actuate 
the  superintendent  in  appointing  or  dismissing  any  subor- 
dinate officer  or  employe,  but  considerations  of  character, 
merit  and  competence  shall  be  the  sole  and  only  reason  for 
any  such  appointment  or  dismissal. 

Sec.  4.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  superintendent  of  the 
county  poor  asylum  to  manage  the  asylum  and  its  farm  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  county.  He  shall  maintain  order  and 
discipline,  he  shall  assign  a  reasonable  amount  of  labor  to 
every  inmate  who  is  able  to  perform  the  same,  and  no  in- 
mate shall  be  excused  from  labor,  except  for  cause,  by  the 
superintendent  or  by  the  county  physician,  but  such  excuse 
by  the  physician  shall  be  for  a  definite  time,  except  in  the  case 
of  aged  paupers,  over  seventy  years  of  age,  or  of  cripples  or 
persons  suffering  from  incurable  disease  or  from  any  other 
physical  or  mental  disability  which  unfits  them  for  labor,  to 
whom  a  permanent  excuse  may  be  given  by  the  physician. 
All  inmates  refusing  to  perform  the  task  assigned  them  by  the 
superintendent,  may  be  dismissed  from  the  asylum  by  him, 
and  can  only  be  readmitted  within  the  period  of  six  weeks  after 
such  dismissal,  with  the  consent  of  the  superintendent,  or 
upon  an  order  from  an  overseer  of  the  poor,  which  shall  have 
been  endorsed  by  the  chairman  of  the  Board  of  County  Com- 
missioners. The  superintendent  shall  carefully  observe  the 
rules  and  regulations  prescribed  by  the  County  Commissioners 
and  shall  further  be  guided  by  suggestions  which  may  be 
made  to  him  by  the  Board  of  State  Charities  and  by  the 
Board  of  County  Charities  and  Correction  in  counties  where 
the  same  shall  exist.  He  shall  make  such  reports  from  time 
to  time  to  the  County  Commissioners  as  they  may  order,  and 
shall  make  such  reports  to  the  Board  of  State  Charities  as 
shall  be  required  by  them. 

Sec.  5.  On  or  before  the  Thursday  preceding  the  first 
Monday  in  March,  June,  September  and  December  of  each 
year,  the  superintendent  of  the  county  asylum  shall  file  with 
the  county  auditor  an  estimate  of  the  supplies  of  meats, 

165 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

groceries,  dry  goods,  fuel,  house  furnishings  and  other  ma- 
terial for  the  subsistence  of  the  inmates  and  the  maintenance 
of  the  asylum,  needed  to  be  purchased  for  the  county  poor 
asylum  during  the  subsequent  three  (3)  months.  The  auditor 
shall  thereupon  divide  the  estimate  for  supplies  under  appro- 
priate headings  and  shall  submit  the  same  to  the  inspection 
of  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners  during  their  regular 
session  not  later  than  the  first  Thursday  after  the  first  Monday 
in  March,  June,  September  and  December  of  each  year.  The 
commissioners  shall  at  once  inspect  the  estimates  and  make 
such  amendments  thereto  as  they  may  deem  necessary.  Said 
estimates  shall  be  open  during  the  session  of  the  commissioners' 
court  and  thereafter  for  the  inspection  of  any  citizen.  The 
auditor,  not  later  than  the  first  Monday  in  March,  June, 
September  and  December  of  each  year,  shall  give  notice  by 
advertisement  in  at  least  one  paper  published  at  the  county 
seat  that  the  estimates  will  be  on  file  in  his  office  and  shall 
request  bids  for  contracts  for  furnishing  the  needed  supplies 
for  the  period  of  three  months.  The  day  for  receiving  such 
bids  shall  be  fixed  in  said  advertisement,  but  not  earlier  than 
ten  days  after  the  first  of  said  publication.  Bids  received  for 
supplies  of  materials  needed  for  the  asylum  shall  be  opened  by 
the  commissioners  in  open  court  and  contracts  shall  be  awarded 
to  the  lowest  responsible  bidders.  The  bids  received  shall 
be  endorsed  by  the  auditor  as  accepted  or  rejected,  and 
shall  be  preserved  on  file  in  the  auditor's  office  and  be  subject 
to  the  inspection  of  any  citizen.  The  auditor  shall  notify 
each  successful  bidder  of  the  acceptance  of  his  bid,  and  there- 
upon a  contract  for  the  same  shall  be  duly  executed :  Provided, 
That  the  Board  of  Commissioners  may  reject  any  and  all  bids 
and  may  again  advertise  for  bids  in  the  manner  above  de- 
scribed. The  commissioners  in  their  discretion,  may  demand 
a  bond  from  the  successful  bidders  conditioned  upon  the  ful- 
fillment of  their  contracts,  with  such  sureties  as  the  commis- 
sioners may  deem  advisable.  On  fulfillment  of  the  aforesaid 
contracts,  bills  for  the  supplies  purchased  shall  be  presented 
to  the  auditor  by  those  to  whom  payment  is  due,  which  bills 

166 


APPENDIX   V 

shall  be  examined  by  the  superintendent  of  the  poor  asylum 
and  the  auditor,  when  if  found  correct  they  shall  be  attested 
by  the  signature  of  the  superintendent  of  the  county  poor 
asylum,  certifying  that  the  supplies  therein  specified  have  been 
received  by  him  and  have  been  of  the  quality  contracted  for, 
and  by  the  signature  of  the  auditor  certifying  that  the  prices 
and  quantities  agree  with  the  contracts  on  file  in  his  office  for 
the  same.  The  bills  so  certified  shall  be  presented  by  the 
auditor  to  the  commissioners,  who  shall  examine  the  same,  and 
if  they  approve  them  they  shall  make  allowances  for  the 
amounts  and  order  the  issue  of  warrants  in  the  manner  pre- 
scribed by  law  for  the  allowance  and  payment  of  claims  against 
the  county  by  County  Commissioners.  The  superintendent 
by  order  of  the  commissioners  and  under  their  direction  may 
from  time  to  time  purchase  such  live  stock,  implements  and 
other  supplies  to  be  used  in  farming  as  shall  be  needed  upon 
the  county  farm.  Claims  for  payment  of  the  same  shall  be 
made  in  open  court  upon  sworn  statements  of  the  claimants, 
certified  as  correct  by  the  superintendent  of  the  county  poor 
asylum,  and  when  found  correct  they  shall  be  approved  by  the 
commissioners  and  warrants  shall  be  drawn  in  the  manner 
prescribed  by  law.  The  purchases  authorized  by  this  section 
shall  be  made  in  the  manner  that  other  supplies  are  required 
to  be  purchased  for  the  county,  and  claims  therefor  shall  be 
allowed  in  the  same  manner  that  other  claims  against  the 
county  are  allowed. 

Sec.  6.  Whenever  there  shall  be  any  produce  of  the  county 
farm  which  shall  not  be  needed  for  the  subsistence  of  the  in- 
mates, the  superintendent  shall  report  the  same  to  the  County 
Commissioners,  who  in  their  discretion  shall  order  the  super- 
intendent to  sell  the  same  in  such  a  manner  and  at  such  a  time 
as  to  produce  the  best  return  of  money  to  the  county.  The 
superintendent  after  making  any  such  sale  shall  collect  the 
money  and  deposit  the  same  with  the  county  treasurer,  who 
shall  give  him  a  receipt  for  the  amount.  The  superintendent 
shall  immediately  thereafter  report  the  transaction  to  the 
auditor  and  shall  file  with  him  the  treasurer's  receipt  for  the 

167 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

money  and  shall  take  a  quietus  from  the  auditor  for  the  same. 
All  transactions  regarding  the  sale  of  surplus  products  from 
the  asylum  farm  shall  be  reported  by  the  superintendent  to 
the  commissioners  in  open  court  and  the  same,  with  the  names 
of  the  purchasers,  description  and  quantity  of  the  articles 
sold,  date  of  sale  and  price  received,  shall  be  entered  upon  the 
commissioners'  record. 

Sec.  7.  Wherever  there  shall  be  organized  a  County  Coun- 
cil in  any  county  in  this  State,  it  is  hereby  declared  that  the 
authority  conferred  by  this  act  to  pay  officers  and  employes 
of  such  asylums  and  to  pay  for  materials  and  supplies  of  every 
sort  therefor,  shall  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  strictly  limited 
to  the  extent  of  specific  appropriations  of  money  made  in 
advance  by  such  County  Council  upon  estimates  furnished. 
No  obligation  or  liability  of  any  sort  shall  be  incurred  by  any 
officer  on  behalf  of  said  county  unless  the  same  shall  fall  with- 
in the  appropriation  specifically  made  for  the  purpose.  Any 
undertakings  or  agreements  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this 
section  are  declared  to  be  absolutely  void  and  no  action  shall 
be  maintained  against  the  county  thereon. 

Sec.  8.  All  laws  and  parts  of  laws  inconsistent  with  this 
act  are  hereby  repealed. 


B.  REMARKS  ON  THE  INDIANA  LAW* 

Section  i. — Appointment  of  Superintendent. 
Previous  to  the  enactment  of  this  law  it  had  been  the 
custom  in  many  counties  of  the  state,  for  the  county 
commissioners  to  appoint  an  asylum  (almshouse) 
superintendent  annually.  The  method  of  appointment 
was  by  advertisement  for  bids  to  do  the  work,  and  in 
many  cases  the  lowest  bidder  was  appointed,  although 
he  might  be  poorly  qualified.  It  is,  however,  fair  to 
say  that,  in  most  cases,  a  successful  superintendent  was 
re-appointed  year  after  year  unless  there  had  been  a 

*  Written  by  the  author  of  the  law. 
168 


APPENDIX  V 

political  change  in  the  board,  in  which  case  the  appoint- 
ment, with  rare  exceptions,  went  to  a  member  of  the 
winning  party.  The  new  law  requires  the  superintend- 
ent to  be  appointed  for  two  years,  and  the  salary  to  be 
fixed  by  the  commissioners.  The  appointment  is  to 
be  made  ten  weeks  ahead  of  its  taking  effect.  This  is 
so  that  the  new  superintendent,  who  is  necessarily  a 
farmer,  may  have  time  to  adjust  his  other  affairs  with- 
out loss.  The  date,  September  ist,  was  chosen  for  the 
commencement  of  a  new  superintendent's  term,  be- 
cause in  Indiana  that  is  the  best  date  for  beginning  a 
year's  farming  operations.  The  ground  for  the  winter 
wheat  crop  is  usually  plowed  in  September,  all  the 
crops  of  the  closing  year  are  then  made,  and  only  certain 
root  and  fruit  crops,  and  the  corn  crop,  remain  to  be 
harvested.  The  regulations  as  to  fitness  of  appointee 
being  decided  by  the  commissioners,  seem  to  have 
worked  well  in  practice. 

Sec.  2.  This  provides  that  the  commissioners  shall 
decide  on  the  number  of  help  to  be  employed  and  their 
compensation,  but  this  does  not  allow  subordinates 
to  be  appointed  by  commissioners.  Provision  is  also 
made  for  the  removal  of  a  superintendent  for  cause. 
No  trial  is  provided  for  in  such  case,  but  the  commis- 
sioners are  held  responsible.  The  publicity  given  to 
the  act  of  removal  and  its  causes,  by  its  being  made  a 
matter  of  public  record,  is  considered  to  be  sufficient 
safeguard  against  removal  for  improper  reasons. 

Sec.  3.  The  superintendent  being  held  respon- 
sible for  the  acts  of  his  subordinates  is  therefore 
given  full  authority  over  them.  If  their  conduct  is 
unsatisfactory  he  does  not  suspend  them,  but  must 
discharge,  but  he  must  report  the  case  in  full  to  the  com- 
missioners to  whom  he  is  responsible.     The  warning 

169 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

against  improper  influences  in  appointments,  which 
appears  in  the  first  section,  is  here  repeated  with  respect 
to  the  superintendent's  appointments. 

Sec.  4.  The  regulations  as  to  labor  of  inmates  and 
re-admission  and  dismissal  are  valuable. 

Sec.  5.  Purchase  of  supplies  on  competitive  bids 
in  a  public  manner  is  made  obligatory.  A  sample  of 
a  requisition  follows.*  It  will  be  noticed  that  in  all 
the  business  transactions  of  the  county,  the  safeguard 
of  publicity  is  arranged  for.  The  legislature  apparently 
believed  that,  if  the  full  light  of  publicity  would  not 
deter  from  improper  action,  no  ingenious  scheme  of 
safeguard  against  such  action  would  be  successful. 

*  See  Appendix  XI 11,  page  223. 


170 


APPENDIX  VI 

THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  ALMSHOUSE* 

Extract  from  a  Paper  read  by  Mary  Vida  Clark  at  the  National 
Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  igoo  f 

The  chief  reason  why  the  almshouse  fails  to  interest 
us  is  that  we  do  not  understand  it ;  and  we  do  not  under- 
stand it  because  we  regard  it  too  much  by  itself,  and 
out  of  its  relation  to  other  branches  of  public  charity, 
and  also  too  much  as  it  is,  and  out  of  its  relation  to 
its  past  and  its  future.  One  who  knows  only  the  alms- 
house does  not  know  the  almshouse  very  well;  and  one 
who  knows  only  the  almshouse  of  one  period  hardly 
knows  the  almshouse  at  all. 

But  one  who  truly  knows  one  almshouse  knows  every 
almshouse.  Wherever  found,  it  is  practically  the  same 
institution.  Apparent  differences  may  be  great;  real 
differences  are  slight.  It  is  an  institution  which  is 
undergoing  a  process  of  evolution.  Different  alms- 
houses exemplify  different  stages  of  this  evolution. 

In  some  cases,  certain  stages  are  shortened  or  omitted 

*  Throughout  this  paper  the  word  "almshouse"  is  used,  not 
according  to  its  broad,  legal  definition,  as  any  charitable  institution, 
whether  public  or  private,  where  the  poor  are  maintained,  but  accord- 
ing to  the  generally  accepted  American  usage  of  the  word,  synony- 
mous with  poorhouse,  a  public  institution  maintained  by  the  county, 
the  city,  or  the  town  for  public  dependents. 

t  Proceedings  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
i960,  p.  146. 

171 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

altogether;  in  others,  so  unduly  extended  that  the 
despairing  onlookers  think  there  will  never  be  any 
onward  movement.  Possibly  there  may  not  be,  unless 
the  onlookers  get  down  and  push.  Science  recognizes 
such  a  thing  as  arrested  development,  not  to  mention 
reversion  to  a  more  primitive  type. 

To  explain  the  circumstances  which  determine  this 
almshouse  individuality  and  which  justify  this  view  of 
the  oneness  of  the  institution  would  lead  us  too  far 
afield.  For  the  purposes  of  a  short  paper  it  is  perhaps 
sufficient  to  accept  the  view  that  the  almshouse  is 
everywhere  one  and  the  same,  under  whatever  name 
and  at  whatever  age  we  find  it.  If  this  is  true,  then 
any  individual  almshouse  may  be  helped  by  the  ex- 
perience of  any  other;  and  a  principle  which  is  appli- 
cable to  one  is  applicable  to  all.  Starting  with  this 
theory  of  the  almshouse,  we  can  perhaps  make  some 
progress  towards  answering  the  various  questions  that 
arise  regarding  the  proper  organization  of  such  an  in- 
stitution. 

The  fundamental  question  on  which  any  discussion 
of  our  subject  must  be  based  is.  What  is  the  function  of 
the  almshouse?  What  is  its  place  in  the  general 
scheme  of  public  indoor  relief?  Or,  in  a  more  simple 
and  concrete  form.  Who  belongs  in  the  almshouse? 
In  its  first  stage  of  development  the  almshouse  is  a  sort 
of  public  dumping  ground  for  all  classes  of  dependents 
and  defectives  and  for  some  classes  of  delinquents. 
Herded  together  are  to  be  found  children,  idiots,  epi- 
leptics, the  insane,  the  feeble-minded,  the  deaf  and 
dumb,  the  blind,  the  sick,  tramps  and  vicious  persons, 
and  the  respectable  aged  poor.  Gradually,  certain  of 
these  classes  are  wholly  or  partly  removed  and  provided 
for  elsewhere.    According  to  what  principle  is  this  done? . 

172 


APPENDIX   VI 

How  is  it  decided  which  of  all  these  various  persons  do 
not  properly  belong  in  the  almshouse  and  which  do 
belong  there? 

There  are  many  things  which  determine  what  sort 
of  work  an  almshouse  can  do.  Chief  among  these  is 
the  character  of  the  official  at  its  head.  So  long  as 
the  local  officers  having  charge  of  the  administration 
of  public  charity  are  elected  for  short  terms  by  popular 
vote,  and  are  chosen  for  qualities  which  have  little  to 
do  with  the  requirements  of  the  position  they  are  to 
occupy,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  their  work  will  be 
done  according  to  scientific  principles.  Whatever 
heights  of  excellency  any  individual  almshouse  may 
attain  under  the  temporary  administration  of  any 
individual  superintendent,  the  ordinary  and  normal 
management  of  the  institution  must  be  regarded  as 
indifferent.  Consequently,  only  such  work  should  be 
required  of  the  almshouse  as  can  reasonably  be  expected 
of  it  under  the  administration  of  any  ordinary  citizen, 
with  common  sense  and  good  intentions  probably,  but 
without  professional  training  or  experience.  Classes  of 
dependents  requiring  special  scientific  treatment  of 
any  sort  are  not,  therefore,  proper  almshouse  inmates. 

Another  thing  which  determines  the  work  of  the 
almshouse  is  its  size.  Except  when  connected  with  a 
large  city,  it  is  ordinarily  a  small  institution,  containing 
on  an  average  probably  less  than  a  hundred  inmates. 
Any  classes  of  dependents,  therefore,  who  cannot  prop- 
erly and  economically  be  cared  for  in  small  numbers, 
are  not  suitable  almshouse  inmates. 

Still  another  and  a  more  widely  recognized  disability 
of  the  almshouse  comes  from  the  fact  that  it  is  an  open 
institution,  where  confinement  is  supposed  to  be  volun- 


173 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

tary,  and  so  cannot  provide  for  persons  who  are  properly 
prisoners  and  should  be  kept  under  lock  and  key. 

Our  principle  of  exclusion,  then,  covers  three  classes 
of  persons:  those  requiring  special  scientific  treatment, 
those  who  cannot  properly  and  economically  be  cared 
for  in  small  numbers,  and  those  who  must  be  confined 
against  their  will. 

Taking  up  the  last  first,  it  is  obvious  that  the  alms- 
house is  no  place  for  prisoners.  The  most  elementary 
classification  of  the  dependent  classes  distinguishes 
between  those  who  are  merely  dependent  and  those  who 
are  also  delinquent.  The  practice  of  accommodating 
tramps  and  of  actually  receiving  by  commitment  of 
the  courts,  disorderly  persons,  which  is  still  prevalent 
in  most  states,  though  in  many  there  is  other  provision 
for  such  cases,  cannot  be  upheld  by  any  argument  from 
either  theory  or  experience.  In  states  where  there  are 
no  intermediate  institutions  between  the  jail  and  the 
almshouse,  where  the  workhouse  and  the  reformatory 
have  not  yet  been  established,  cases  frequently  arise 
in  which  less  harm  seems  to  be  done  by  committing  the 
ofi'ender  to  the  almshouse  than  by  sending  him  to  jail; 
but  the  incomplete  equipment  of  such  states  for  dealing 
with  delinquents  is  no  argument  for  putting  the  alms- 
house to  penal  uses.  More  advanced  states  provide 
for  the  commitment  of  tramps,  vagrants,  and  dis- 
orderly persons  to  penitentiaries,  workhouses,  or  re- 
formatories. 

After  delinquents  have  been  excluded,  there  remains 
a  miscellaneous  population  from  which  certain  classes 
stand  out  as  in  need  of  special  treatment  of  a  more  or 
less  scientific  nature;  education  for  all  children,  in- 
cluding those  who  are  feeble-minded,  blind,  deaf,  and 
dumb;   scientific  care  and,  so  far  as  possible,  curative 

174 


APPENDIX   VI 

treatment  for  the  insane,  the  epileptic  and  the  sick; 
custodial  care  for  feeble-minded  adults  and  idiots. 
The  almshouse  school  cannot  properly  educate  the 
normal  child,  much  less  the  defective.  The  almshouse 
doctor,  commonly  a  general  practitioner  in  country 
districts,  is  not  fitted  to  treat  insanity,  epilepsy,  and 
other  diseases  which  are  now  regarded  as  the  province 
of  trained  specialists;  and  the  open-door  system  of  alms- 
house management  cannot  insure  proper  restraint  of 
the  feeble-minded  and  the  idiotic. 

In  those  states  in  which  public  charity  has  reached 
an  advanced  stage  of  development,  all  these  classes  of 
dependents  are  cared  for  in  separate  institutions 
especially  suited  to  their  different  needs.  It  is  impossi- 
ble within  the  limits  of  a  short  paper  to  enter  into  the 
different  methods  of  caring  for  all  of  these  various 
classes  of  dependents,  but  a  few  words  may  be  said 
about  each. 

The  dangers  of  subjecting  children  to  the  influences 
of  almshouse  life  were  early  realized.  The  imitative 
instinct  is  so  strongly  developed  in  all  children  that  the 
character  of  their  environment  during  their  impression- 
able early  years  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  it  is 
generally  felt  that  the  surest  way  to  raise  a  generation 
of  paupers  is  to  rear  children  in  almshouses.  Most 
states  in  the  Union  make  it  illegal  to  receive  and  retain 
in  almshouses  children  who  are  past  the  age  of  baby- 
hood. But  there  are  still  many  states,  especially  in 
the  South,  where  this  abuse  has  not  been  corrected  by 
law.  Some  states,  especially  in  the  West,  maintain 
public  institutions  for  children,  in  which  they  are  kept 
temporarily,  and  from  which  they  are  either  returned 
to  their  relatives  or  placed  out  in  family  homes  by 
adoption,  indenture,  or  some  other  form  of  agreement. 

175 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

Other  states  leave  the  care  of  destitute  children  largely 
to  private  charitable  societies,  with  or  without  assistance 
from  the  public  treasury. 

While  it  is  possible  for  the  state  to  prohibit  the  ad- 
mission and  retention  of  normal  children  in  almshouses, 
even  without  making  other  provision  for  them,  but 
relying  upon  private  charity  to  take  the  initiative  in 
providing  for  them,  defective  children  can  hardly  be 
excluded  with  the  same  assurance  that  private  aid  will 
be  forthcoming.  Consequently,  most  states  have  early 
established  educational  institutions  for  the  blind  and  the 
deaf  and  dumb  of  teachable  age,  while  leaving  the  alms- 
houses open  to  them  in  addition.  Few  such  children 
are  to  be  found  in  almshouses,  however,  unless  they 
have  more  than  one  defect,  and  in  addition  to  being 
blind  and  deaf,  are  feeble-minded,  epileptic,  or  crippled. 
Provision  for  the  education  of  the  mentally  defective 
has  been  made  more  slowly,  and  the  majority  of  the 
states  are  still  unprovided  with  public  institutions  for 
feeble-minded  children. 

Proper  provision  for  adult  defectives  has  made  little 
more  than  a  beginning  in  this  country.  All  blind  and 
deaf  and  dumb  persons  cannot  be  made  self-dependent; 
and,  as  industrial  competition  grows  keener,  the  diffi- 
culties will  increase.  It  is  a  hardship  for  people  of 
these  classes  who  have  undergone  a  course  of  training 
in  a  state  institution  to  return  to  the  almshouse.  There 
are  a  considerable  number  of  private  institutions  for 
the  adult  blind,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  private  effort 
will  provide  more  completely  for  both  blind  and  deaf- 
mute  adults. 

The  condition  of  the  idiotic  and  the  adult  feeble- 
minded is  even  more  unfortunate.  The  danger  of 
allowing  feeble-minded  women  to  be  at  large,  or  even 

176 


APPENDIX   VI 

to  live  under  the  loose  restraint  of  an  almshouse,  seems 
to  be  little  realized  as  yet.  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 
appreciating  that  the  best  way  to  cut  off  the  supply  of 
defective  children,  is  to  prevent  defective  women  from 
becoming  mothers,  established  some  fifteen  years  ago 
institutions  for  the  custodial  care  of  such  women.  It 
is  a  hardship  for  the  respectable  inmates  of  an  alms- 
house to  be  associated  in  the  same  institution  with 
idiotic  and  feeble-minded  persons.  The  almshouse  is 
not  equipped  to  care  for  and  restrain  such  inmates, 
and  there  is  consequent  suffering  on  the  part  of  the  de- 
fectives themselves.  The  safest,  most  humane,  and 
economical  way  of  caring  for  idiots  is  to  take  them  from 
almshouses  and  segregate  them  in  large  numbers  in 
state  institutions.  New  York  was  the  first  to  establish 
such  an  institution  for  idiots,  but  as  yet  there  are  three 
times  as  many  eligible  cases  outside  as  inside.  In  most 
states  they  are  either  left  in  the  almshouses  or  allowed 
to  remain  in  the  institutions  for  feeble-minded  youth. 
There  is  probably  no  class  of  dependents,  except  chil- 
dren, for  whom  almshouse  care  is  more  generally  con- 
sidered improper  than  for  the  insane.  Experience  has 
shown  that  the  almshouse  is  incapable  of  providing  for 
the  insane  the  skilled  medical  attention,  trained  nursing, 
attractive  environment,  and  intelligent  direction  of 
work  and  play  which  are  essential  to  the  cure,  and 
desirable  in  the  care  of  such  patients.  With  some 
honorable  exceptions  the  almshouse  system,  when 
followed,  has  proved  a  miserable  failure,  and  the  cause 
of  much  unnecessary  suffering  both  to  the  insane  and 
to  the  sane  inmates  of  a  mixed  institution.  While 
some  of  the  more  enlightened  states  retain  a  mixed 
system  of  state  and  county  or  town  care, — state  care 
for  the  supposedly  curable  and  county  or  town  care  for 
12  177 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

the  supposedly  incurable, — many  states,  especially  in 
the  West,  and  such  states  in  the  East  as  New  York, — 
which  has  nearly  one-fifth  of  the  total  insane  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States, — have  a  system  of  complete 
state  cure  and  state  maintenance,  which  is  probably  the 
best  system  which  has  yet  been  devised  for  the  care  of 
this  unfortunate  class. 

Epileptics  are  beginning  to  secure  a  recognition  of 
their  claims  to  treatment  apart  from  the  insane,  the 
feeble-minded,  and  ordinary  almshouse  inmates.  The 
fact  that  epileptics  need  special  treatment  has  been 
proved  by  the  wonderful  results  which  have  been  ob- 
tained when  they  have  been  given  such  treatment. 
The  cures  achieved  in  many  of  the  cases,  and  the  great 
improvement  made  in  nearly  all  which  have  been 
treated  by  special  institutions,  as  well  as  the  large 
extent  to  which  epileptics  can  contribute  to  their  own 
support  when  properly  directed,  should  be  an  encourage- 
ment to  all  states  to  establish  hospitals  or  colonies  for 
this  class  of  dependents.  It  is  obviously  a  hardship 
to  retain  epileptics  in  almshouses,  where  they  have 
no  opportunities  for  improvement,  and  where  their 
presence  is  a  source  of  disgust  and  danger  to  other 
inmates. 

In  addition  to  these  nervous  diseases  there  are 
hospital  cases  of  various  sorts  which  cannot  receive 
proper  treatment  in  an  almshouse.  Ordinary  contagious 
diseases  have  nearly  always  been  excluded;  but  that 
most  prevalent  of  contagious  diseases — consumption — 
has  been  freely  admitted.  In  view  of  the  modern 
opinion  as  to  the  nature  of  this  disease,  some  few  states 
are  establishing  separate  institutions  for  its  treatment. 
Massachusetts  already  has  its  state  sanitarium;  and 
New  York  is  about  to  establish  a  similar  institution 

178 


APPENDIX   VI 

for  the  treatment  of  incipient  cases,  while  provision 
has  been  made  for  the  estabUshment  of  local  institu- 
tions for  persons  in  more  advanced  stages  of  the  disease. 
It  is,  of  course,  inhuman  to  subject  ordinary  almshouse 
inmates  to  the  danger  of  contracting  pulmonary  tu- 
berculosis, and  the  surest  way  to  provide  against  such 
contagion  is  to  isolate  those  affected  in  a  separate 
institution.* 

Cases  of  acute  diseases  are  not  generally  treated  in 
almshouses,  and  cannot  properly  be  treated  in  such  a 
place.  In  localities  where  there  are  public  hospitals  or 
private  hospitals  to  which  patients  can  be  sent  at  public 
expense,  these  agencies  are  commonly  used,  and  should 
be  used  whenever  possible.  In  rural  districts,  where 
outdoor  relief  is  given,  the  sick  are  generally  treated  in 
their  own  homes. 

A  class  of  cases  which  is  too  frequently  received  at 
almshouses  is  confinement  cases.  Such  should  be  sent, 
whenever  possible,  to  a  hospital  or  placed  in  the  care  of 
private  charity.  A  young  woman  is  not  benefited  by 
almshouse  life,  and  it  is  unfortunate  that  any  child 
should  have  the  almshouse  stigma  attached  to  its  birth 
and  infancy. 

That  any  or  all  of  the  above  classes  of  dependents 
cannot  continuously  receive  proper  care  and  treatment 
in  an  almshouse  is  obvious  to  anyone  who  studies  the 
history  of  almshouse  experiments  along  these  lines. 
But,  even  if  such  work  could  be  done  properly  by  an 
almshouse,  it  could  not  be  done  also  economically.  To 
run  an  almshouse  properly,  when  it  has  an  assorted 
population  of  all  kinds  and  conditions  of  dependents 
and  defectives,  would  require  in  the  superintendent 

*This  was  written  in  1900,  before  the  great  development  in  the 
care  and  treatment  of  tuberculosis. 

179 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

a  combination  of  special  qualifications  which  no  one 
human  being  could  possibly  possess,  and  would  require 
an  amount  of  money  which  no  almshouse  ever  received 
honestly  from  the  public  treasury.  A  single  almshouse 
with  a  miscellaneous  population  has  not  a  sufficient 
number  of  inmates  of  any  one  class  for  purposes  of 
classification;  and  either  each  individual  must  be  put 
in  a  class  by  itself  or  a  rough  average  must  be  struck, 
which  probably  will  not  secure  just  the  right  sort  of 
care  for  any  individual.  Medical  superintendents  of 
hospitals  for  the  insane  say  that  proper  classification  of 
their  patients  demands  about  ten  wards  for  each  sex. 
A  reformatory  generally  divides  its  inmates  into  at 
least  four  classes.  The  feeble-minded,  idiotic,  epi- 
leptic, and  other  defectives  also  require  careful  grading; 
and  only  large  numbers  make  this  possible  without 
excessive  expense.  The  welfare  of  the  inmates  them- 
selves, the  safety  of  society,  and  the  economy  of  public 
money  demand  the  segregation  of  each  of  these  classes 
of  defectives  in  separate  institutions  under  skilled 
management. 

If  all  the  different  classes  of  dependents  and  defectives 
who  are  in  need  of  special  treatment,  which  cannot, 
under  ordinary  conditions,  be  properly  furnished  in  the 
almshouse,  are  provided  for  outside  the  almshouse, 
who  then  remains  in  the  almshouse?  Clearly,  only 
those  aged  and  infirm  persons  who  are  unable  to  support 
themselves  and  are  without  relatives  to  support  them. 
To  meet  their  needs,  an  institution  should  be  something 
between  a  hospital  and  a  home.  The  word  which  per- 
haps best  conveys  the  idea  is  the  Ohio  name, — infirmary. 


i8o 


APPENDIX  VII 

A.    CLASSIFICATION  IN  ALMSHOUSES 

Extract  from  the  Report  of  the  British  Royal  Commission 

Among  much  that  is  condemnatory  of  the  British 
workhouses  it  is  gratifying  to  find  the  following  (pp. 
329-331  of  the  Minority  Report): 

"We  have  to  express  our  appreciation  of  the  ad- 
mirable provision  for  the  aged  deserving  poor  now  made, 
according  to  this  policy  [a  policy  expressed  in  certain 
orders  of  the  Local  Government  Board  which  had  been 
quoted  above],  by  certain  Unions,  the  Boards  of  Guar- 
dians of  which  have  definitely  adopted  the  policy  of 
allowing,  to  their  selected  class  of  deserving  destitute 
aged.  Outdoor  Relief  of  5s.  a  week  for  each  person. 
The  assumption,  at  any  rate,  is  that  no  such  person 
will  ever  be  forced  to  accept  indoor  relief.  If  the  aged 
person  is  unable  to  get  properly  taken  care  of,  or  for 
any  other  reason  prefers  to  come  inside,  he  or  she 
is  maintained  in  comfortably  furnished  apartments, 
separate  from  the  general  mixed  workhouse;  sometimes 
(as  at  Dewsbury  and  Birmingham)  in  a  distinct  block; 
sometimes  (as  at  Woolwich)  in  a  separate  house  quite 
away  from  the  workhouse  premises;  sometimes  (as  at 
Bradford)  in  a  quadrangle  of  separate  tenements;  or 
(as  at  Sheffield)  in  a  row  of  cottages,  each  with  two 
inmates.  They  have  often  each  a  room  to  themselves, 
or  at  least  (as  at  Birmingham)  a  cubicle,  furnished  with 

181 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

carpet,  chair,  and  dressing-table  with  drawers  under- 
neath. Sometimes  (as  at  Nottingham)  'afternoon 
tea'  is  served  at  4  p.  m.  Dinners  are  usually  cooked 
in  a  common  kitchen  and  served  in  common  in  a 
separate  dining  room,  but  the  old  people  may  often 
prepare  their  other  meals  for  themselves,  over  their  own 
fires.  They  have  tea,  sugar,  tobacco  and  snuff  served 
out  to  them  weekly,  to  be  used  when  they  like.  They 
have  comfortable,  non-distinctive  clothing  provided 
for  them,  or  they  may  retain  their  own;  and  they  may 
receive  visits  in  their  own  apartments  and  come  and 
go  during  the  daytime  at  their  will.  They  are  some- 
times allowed  to  retain  pet  animals,  and  to  cultivate 
their  own  little  gardens.  They  may  receive  and  retain 
for  themselves  any  gifts  from  friends,  other  than 
alcoholic  drink.  *  They  get  up  when  they  like  and  go 
to  bed  as  they  please.'  They  need  do  no  work  unless 
they  choose,  but  if  they  desire  to  do,  so,  they  are  pro- 
vided with  'congenial'  employment,  'suited  to  their 
age  and  capacity.'  With  the  one  exception  that  no 
pocket-money  is  provided  for  them,  and  subject  to 
this  one  drawback  that,  disguise  it  as  we  may,  the 
inmates  of  these  comfortable  quarters  for  the  aged 
are,  owing  to  their  being  under  the  Destitution  Author- 
ity, legally  stigmatised  as  paupers,  the  small  and  highly 
selected  class  of  deserving  aged  have,  in  these  few 
Unions  where  the  new  policy  of  the  Local  Government 
Board  has  been  fully  adopted,  as  good  conditions  as 
could  possibly  be  desired. 

"It  is  to  the  credit  of  the  Destitution  Authorities 
of  Scotland  that,  with  the  cognizance  of  the  Local 
Government  Board  for  Scotland,  they  have  for  the  most 
part  long  adopted  an  equally  generous  policy  with 
regard  to  the  deserving  aged.     In  one  respect  they  have 

182 


APPENDIX   VII 

even  gone  farther  than  the  most  up-to-date  of  the 
EngHsh  Boards  of  Guardians.  They  have  combined 
the  provision  of  agreeable  quarters  with  Outdoor  ReHef. 
In  the  comfortable  cottages,  or  in  the  old  villa  resi- 
dences that  are  termed,  in  some  Scotch  parishes, 
'  Parochial  Homes,'  we  ourselves  found  the  deserving 
aged  inmates,  not  only  enjoying  the  furnished  lodgings, 
free  firing,  and  attendance  that  is  provided,  but  re- 
ceiving in  addition,  to  dispense  as  they  think  fit,  their 
'aliment'  of  three  or  four  shillings  a  week.  They  may, 
if  they  choose,  hand  their  money,  or  any  part  of  it, 
to  the  salaried  housekeeper,  to  provide  their  meals 
with;  or  they  may,  if  they  prefer,  make  any  or  all  of 
their  purchases  for  themselves,  and  cook  their  own  meals 
over  their  own  fires  in  their  own  way.  This  appears 
to  us  the  best  thing  that  has  yet  been  done  in  the  way 
of  public  provision  for  the  aged.  We  can  only  regret 
that  this  policy  of  discrimination  and  generous  treat- 
ment of  the  deserving  aged  has  been  extended,  in  Eng- 
land (owing  to  the  inability  of  the  Local  Government 
Board  to  overcome  in  most  places  the  almost  inevitable 
reluctance  of  a  Destitution  Authority  to  provide  any- 
thing beyond  the  barest  subsistence),  to  only  an  insig- 
nificant minority  of  the  deserving  and  aged/' 

B.    COTTAGE  HOMES  AS  PARTS  OF  THE 
ALMSHOUSE 

The  following  very  interesting  report  on  the  applica- 
tion of  the  policy  of  the  British  Local  Government 
Board  is  taken  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  National 
Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction  of  1905: 


183 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

THE    FIRVALE   UNION   COTTAGE    HOMES   AND   CLASSI- 
FICATION OF  PUBLIC  DEPENDENTS* 

By  Mrs.  Alice  N.  Lincoln,  Boston,  Mass. 

The  Firvale  Union  Cottage  Homes  afford  a  unique 
experiment  in  regard  to  the  comforts  which  may  be 
provided  for  the  aged  and  deserving  poor  who  are 
dependent.  The  special  advantages  of  these  Homes 
were  called  to  my  attention  several  years  ago  by  a 
member  of  the  London  County  Council,  and  it  was  my 
privilege  to  visit  them  on  July  2nd,  1904.  I  found  that 
much  of  the  progressive  policy  which  has  been  adopted 
at  the  Firvale  Union  is  due  to  the  interest  of  the  board  of 
guardians,  consisting  of  twenty-four  members,  and 
especially  to  the  chairman  of  the  board,  Mr.  Wilson, 
who,  as  an  ex-mayor  of  the  city  of  Sheffield,  and 
brother  of  a  member  of  Parliament,  has  naturally  much 
influence,  and  devotes  a  great  deal  of  time  to  the  insti- 
tution and  its  needs. 

Persons  entering  the  Union  are  classified  on  entrance 
by  the  relief  officer  subject  to  the  relief  committee  of 
the  board  of  guardians.  The  classification  therefore 
depends  upon  the  conduct  and  standing  of  individuals 
while  members  of  the  community,  and  not  upon  their 
conduct  as  inmates  of  the  institution,  although  inmates 
can  be  changed  from  one  class  to  another,  subsequent 
to  admission.  This  method  of  classification  on  entrance 
may  have  certain  advantages,  because  it  eliminates 
the  element  of  jealousy,  so  likely  to  arise  when  one 
inmate  is  selected  or  favored  rather  than  another.  It 
presupposes,  however,  a  large  amount  of  knowledge  and 
discretion  on  the  part  of  the  relief  officer,  and  puts  a 

*  Proceedings  of  the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correc- 
tion, 1905,  p.  403. 

184 


APPENDIX   VII 

dangerous  amount  of  power  into  his  hands  if  he  is 
subject  (as  he  would  be  in  this  country)  to  poHtical 
conditions  and  pressure. 

The  cottage  homes  of  Sheffield  are  distinctive,  and 
have  one  great  advantage  over  other  similar  buildings 
elsewhere,  in  that  they  form  part  of,  and  are  connected 
with  the  main  institution,  although  actually  they  are 
separated  from  it. 

The  block  consists  of  eight  cottages,  built  in  a  row, 
and  resembling  a  short  street  of  one-story  houses. 
These  houses  face  on  a  green,  and  command  a  fine  view. 
They  have  separate  entrances  on  the  front.  On  the 
rear,  these  one-room  cottages  open  on  a  corridor, 
where  there  are  two  bathrooms,  an  exit  to  the  garden, 
and  stairs  in  the  center,  leading  to  an  upper  floor  where 
the  caretaker  and  his  wife  reside.  By  this  arrangement 
the  inmates  of  the  cottages  have  their  privacy  secured 
to  them,  and  yet  are  under  a  certain  amount  of  super- 
vision, so  necessary  for  old  and  feeble  people.  They  can 
use  the  corridor  for  exercise  on  rainy  days,  and  all  the 
plumbing  arrangements  are  under  the  observation 
of  an  officer,  yet  the  clean,  tidy  little  homes  are  indi- 
vidual, quite  as  much  as  if  they  were  really  detached 
houses.  It  is  partly  a  segregate  and  partly  a  congre- 
gate way  of  living. 

Two  inmates  occupy  each  cottage,  and  the  rooms  are 
intended  for  aged  couples,  two  solitary  women,  or  two 
solitary  men,  as  the  case  may  be.  1  found  examples 
of  each,  living  in  great  comfort  (and  one  very  friendly 
old  couple  told  me  they  had  spent  forty  years  on  a 
house-boat). 

Each  room  or  cottage  is  sufficiently  spacious,  the 
dimensions  being  ii  x  14  feet,  and  each  has  a  pretty 
window  facing  the  green  in  front  of  the  house.    There 

185 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

is  an  open  fire-place  in  every  room,  in  which  a  fire  was 
brightly  burning,  and  the  inmates  make  their  own  tea, 
and  prepare  their  breakfast  and  supper  on  the  coal 
grates.  Their  dinner  is  sent  from  the  institution. 
The  furniture  of  each  room  consists  of  single  beds  for 
men  and  women,  or  a  double  bed  for  couples;  a  table, 
a  pretty  bureau,  chairs,  etc.  There  is  tasteful  paper 
on  the  walls,  curtains  are  hung  at  the  windows,  and  a 
cheerful  and  homelike  air  pervades  the  whole  establish- 
ment. The  people  seem  content,  and  expressed  satis- 
faction. They  were  distinctly  of  the  class  that  has 
seen  better  days. 

The  inmates  do  their  own  house  work,  although  I 
understood  that  some  assistance  is  rendered  the  old 
people  by  workers  from  the  institution.  They  take 
care  of  their  own  premises,  and  coal  is  furnished  them, 
in  bins.  A  garden  for  vegetables  for  their  use  is  culti- 
vated by  the  caretaker,  who  is  also  the  shoemaker  of 
the  institution. 

The  corridor  connecting  all  the  cottages  in  the  rear  has 
a  slate  floor,  and  is  light  and  well  adapted  for  exercise. 

A  statement  of  the  classification  of  inmates  in  this 
Union  is  appended,  and  the  question  naturally  arises, 
whether  such  a  plan  could  be  successfully  adopted  in 
America,  where  class  distinctions  are  less  customary 
than  in  Europe.  Whether  or  not  the  "A,"  "  B,"  "C," 
"D"  classification  specified  could  be  possible  with  us, 
is  doubtful.  I  can  see  no  reason,  however,  why  cottage 
almshouses  on  the  Sheffield  plan  could  not  be  success- 
fully tried  in  this  country.  The  old  people  are  well 
looked  after — they  are  happy  in  their  semi-isolation 
from  others,  and  they  are  not  exposed  to  the  perils  of  a 
solitary  life.  The  occupants  of  the  cottages  at  Sheffield 
seemed  happy  and  content.     It  would  surely  be  a  dis- 

i86 


APPENDIX   VII 

tinct  gain  to  make  even  sixteen  inmates  of  an  almshouse 
satisfied  and  happy  by  giving  them  a  semblance  of  their 
former  individual  life  and  home  surroundings,  for  one 
of  the  miseries  of  people  in  institutions  is  that  they 
must  consort  with  uncongenial  neighbors,  and  must 
eat,  sleep,  and  sit  in  their  company. 

Any  effort  at  greater  humanity  in  the  treatment  of 
the  large  class  of  indoor  dependents  should  be  welcomed, 
and  it  would  seem  as  if  the  experiment  at  Sheffield 
might  well  be  repeated  in  some  of  our  American  insti- 
tutions, where  its  undoubted  expense  might  be  justified 
by  reason  of  the  obvious  advantages  to  be  gained. 

In  closing,  1  should  like  to  call  attention  to  another 
very  humane  provision  which  1  found  in  several  English 
institutions,  and  which,  1  fancy,  is  common  to  almost 
all.  Separate  day-rooms  are  provided  for  both  men 
and  women,  and  inmates  are  not  expected  to  occupy 
by  night  the  same  rooms  in  which  they  have  sat  all  day. 
Nightgowns  are  provided  for  the  women,  and  the  bed- 
clothing  is  frequently  rolled  back  in  a  tidy  fashion, 
leaving  the  beds  to  air  during  the  day  time.  In  atten- 
tion to  these  small  details  of  comfort,  the  English 
guardians  of  the  poor  perhaps  excel  us  in  institution 
management,  although  in  other  respects,  American 
methods  are  often  more  modern  and  practical. 

One  small  item,  which  yet  implies  a  good  deal  of 
work,  is  that  at  Firvale  the  clothing  of  each  inmate  is 
numbered,  and  for  the  women,  consists  of  two  dresses, 
two  aprons,  two  pairs  of  stockings,  two  caps,  two  petti- 
coats, two  pairs  of  drawers,  two  chemises,  and  a  woolen 
shawl.  In  this  respect  we  again  find  the  individual 
treatment,  the  care  of  the  special  woman  or  man,  which 
is  frequently  lacking  in  a  great  institution,  and  yet 
which  is  so  greatly  valued  by  the  recipient — who  has 

■87 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

often  not  resigned  his  or  her  independence  without 
a  struggle,  and  who  still  clings  to  the  sense  of  respecta- 
bility which  his  or  her  own  clothes,  marked  with  an 
individual  name  or  number,  gives.  One  of  the  saddest 
thoughts  connected  with  an  almshouse,  is  that  each 
man  and  woman  there  has  failed  through  physical, 
mental  or  moral  disability,  to  maintain  the  individual 
position  in  the  world  which  is  every  human  being's 
heritage  and  right.  For  this  reason,  the  humane  ex- 
periment at  Sheffield  deserves,  and  should  receive, 
the  thoughtful  consideration  of  those  among  us  who 
are  responsible  for  the  care  and  welfare  of  public  de- 
pendents, and  especially  for  the  poor  in  almshouses. 

CLASSIFICATION 

''A"  Class 

Aged  and  infirm  over  60  years  of  age  who  have 
resided  in  the  Sheffield  Union  (of  several  parishes, 
probably)  for  a  period  of  not  less  than  20  years  before 
applying  for  relief;  who  have  not  had  relief  during  that 
time;  whose  character  will  bear  the  strictest  investiga- 
tion during  that  time,  and  who,  through  no  fault  of 
their  own,  have  been  unable  to  provide  for  old  age. 

"B"  Class 

1.  Aged  and  infirm  over  60  years  of  age  who  fall 
short  in  one  or  two  of  the  conditions  in  Class  A. 

2.  Able-bodied  widows  whose  character  is  very  good. 

3.  Those  of  any  age  who  are  temporarily  or  per- 
manently infirm,  and  whose  character  is  very  good. 

4.  Deserted  wives,  whose  character  is  very  good, 
and  whose  desertion  is  not  through  any  fault  of  their 
own. 

188 


APPENDIX   VII 

"C"  Class 
To  include  all  of  whatever  age,  and  whether  able- 
bodied  or  not,  who  are  neither  of  definitely  good  nor 
of  known  bad  character. 

"D"  Class 

All  whose  character  is  decidedly  bad. 

N.  B. — Young  people  likely  to  learn  from,  rather  than 
to  teach  their  companions,  should  be  placed  too  high 
rather  than  too  low  in  classifying. 

In  order  that  every  inmate  on  arrival  at  the  work- 
house may  at  once  be  placed  in  his  or  her  proper  class, 
the  following  arrangements  have  been  made,  vi^.: 

When  a  Workhouse  Order  is  given  by  a  relieving 
officer  between  the  meetings  of  the  relief  committees, 
it  shall  be  his  duty  to  mark  on  the  Admission  Order 
the  class  in  which,  on  the  information  in  his  possession 
at  that  time,  the  person  admitted  should,  in  his  opinion, 
be  placed,  and  to  report  to  his  committee  what  he  has 
done.  The  committee  shall,  after  careful  enquiry  and 
consideration,  indicate  their  decision  re  Classification 
in  the  Application  and  Report  Book,  and  also  on  the 
Character  Sheet,  which  later  shall  be  forwarded  by  the 
Superintendent  of  Out-Relief  to  the  Workhouse  Master 
the  same  day* 

*  The  Relieving  officers,  in  making  their  tentative  classification,  or 
the  District  Committee  in  revising  it,  shall  only  place  applicants  in 
Class  D  if  fully  satisfied  from  enquiry  or  previous  knowledge,  that 
they  are  of  decidedly  bad  character.  Whenever  the  character  is 
doubtful,  or  there  is  insufficient  information,  the  class  must  be  C. 
Similarly,  the  workhouse  master,  if  ever  compelled  to  admit  unclassi- 
fied cases,  shall  tentatively  class  them  C,  unless  he  have  such  specific 
knowledge  of  the  case  as  justifies  a  higher  or  lower  class. 


189 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 
HOW   THE   DIFFERENT  CLASSES   ARE   TREATED 

Class  A 

In  accordance  with  the  recommendation  in  the  first 
report,  eight  one-room  cottages  have  been  built  for 
the  accommodation  of  i6  persons  of  this  class.  They 
are  erected  on  land  belonging  to  the  guardians,  facing 
Smilter  Lane,  and  are  known  as  the  Firvale  Cottages. 
A  caretaker's  house  is  in  the  center,  and  all  are  con- 
nected together  by  a  corridor,  useful  for  exercise  in  bad 
weather,  whence  access  is  obtained  to  the  bath  rooms 
and  other  conveniences. 

The  rooms  are  about  11x14  f^^t  each,  being  arranged 
with  comfortable  beds  and  other  furniture  for  the 
accommodation  of  two  inmates.  These  rooms  are 
occupied  either  by  a  married  couple,  or  by  two  men  or 
two  women  as  the  case  may  be. 

None  but  Class  A  persons  are  admitted  to  these 
cottages  and  such  only  from  that  class  can  be  selected 
as  are  not  by  age  or  infirmity  unable  to  manage  for 
themselves  or  for  one  another.  As  a  rule  their  dinners 
are  cooked  in  the  central  kitchen  by  the  caretaker, 
but  they  prepare  their  other  meals  themselves. 

The  old  people  accommodated  in  these  rooms  are 
quite  free  to  pay  visits  to  or  receive  visits  from  their 
friends,  and  all  privileges  referred  to  in  the  following 
paragraphs  are  granted  to  them. 

It  is  pleasing  to  observe  how  thoroughly  the  in- 
mates of  these  cottages  appreciate  the  accommoda- 
tion provided  for  them.  The  cost  of  their  erection  was 
3,370  pounds,  a  figure  that  has  caused  the  guardians 
to  pause  before  building  others.  It  should,  however, 
be  borne  in  mind  that  in  case  of  extension,  no  addi- 
tional administrative  buildings  would  be  required,  as 

190 


APPENDIX   VII 

the  one  caretaker's  house,  bathrooms,  etc.,  would  suffice 
for  the  24  cottages  originally  proposed,  or,  indeed,  for 
any  number  of  cottages  that  might  be  decided  on. 

Classes  A  and  B 
(In  the  almshouse  proper) 

Except  so  far  as  there  is  accommodation  in  the 
Aged  People's  Homes  referred  to,  Classes  A  and  B  are 
treated  as  one.  The  women  of  this  class  are  placed  in 
light  airy  rooms,  which  were  formerly  a  part  of  the  boys' 
school,  while  the  men  of  this  class  occupy  front  rooms 
in  the  main  building. 

In  both  cases  the  floors  of  the  day  rooms  are  covered 
with  linoleum,  comfortable  armchairs  and  curtains  to 
the  windows  are  provided,  there  are  pictures  on  the 
walls,  ornaments,  including  a  clock,  are  supplied,  and 
the  general  aspect  of  the  rooms  is  made  as  inviting  as 
possible.  There  is  no  uniform,  but  the  clothing  is 
warm  and  suitable  for  each  case.  The  inmates  of  this 
class  are  also  allowed  to  retain  the  clothing  (after  fumi- 
gation) in  which  they  enter,  if  fit  for  use  and  they 
desire  it. 

Their  food  is  as  superior  to  and  distinct  from  that  of 
the  inferior  classes  as  is  consistent  with  the  rules  of  the 
Local  Government  Board,  and  dry  tea  and  sugar  are 
allowed  both  men  and  women  in  addition  to  the 
ordinary  rations,  or  tobacco  or  snuff  when  desired. 
The  inmates  of  each  room  are  permitted  to  prepare 
tea  for  themselves.  All  their  meals  are  taken  in  the 
day  room,  and  their  sleeping  and  other  accommoda- 
tion is  separate  from  that  of  the  inferior  classes. 

It  is  now  decided  to  allow  this  class  the  fullest  free- 
dom within  the  limits  of  necessary  discipline,  for  them 
to  have  ready  access  to  the  workhouse  grounds  beyond 

191 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

the  enclosure  reserved  specially  for  their  use  and  to 
provide  them  with  permanent  cards  authorizing  the 
porter  to  permit  of  their  egress  and  ingress,  when  they 
desire  to  walk  beyond  the  precincts  of  the  house. 

They  are  allowed  to  retain  any  pet  animal  or  object 
to  which  they  have  become  attached;  and  which  would 
be  a  comfort  to  them,  so  long  as  it  is  not  an  annoyance 
to  others,  and  when  they  are  able  and  desire  it,  they  are 
to  have  the  opportunity  of  cultivating  a  small  garden 
for  flowers  and  vegetables  for  their  own  use. 

Class  C 
This  class  receives,  as  far  as  possible,  the  ordinary 
treatment  that  has  been  in  force  in  the  workhouse  in 
past  years.  They  have,  however,  separate  day  room 
and  sleeping  accommodation  from  those  in  the  D  class, 
and  their  clothing  also  is  somewhat  superior.  They 
are  not  under  ordinary  circumstances  entitled  to  extra 
diet,  or  tobacco,  or  snufi^,  but  the  Classification  Com- 
mittee are  free  to  grant  such  privileges  apart  from  the 
special  conditions  imposed  in  Class  D. 

Class  D 

The  accommodation  for  persons  of  this  class  is  in 
every  way  inferior  to  the  foregoing.  They  have  forms 
instead  of  chairs,  older  and  patched  clothing  suffices, 
and  their  wards  are  at  the  rear  of  the  workhouse,  and 
in  the  "  D''  Block.  No  extras  in  the  way  of  food  are 
provided  for  them,  and  tobacco  or  snufl^  is  only  allowed 
for  special  or  disagreeable  services. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  whole  of  this  classifica- 
tion is  intended  to  apply  to  those  who  are  neither  sick 
nor  very  infirm.  1 1  is  necessary  that  the  sick  and  infirm 
should  be  classed  more  in  relation  to  their  physical 

192 


APPENDIX    VII 

condition  than  their  character,  but  where  the  accom- 
modation provided  makes  it  possible  for  the  workhouse 
master  to  carry  out  the  character  distinctions  in  the 
infirm  wards,  it  is  manifestly  desirable  that  he  should 
do  so. 

Aged  Couples 
It  would  not  be  right  to  leave  this  part  of  the  subject 
without  stating  that  in  relation  to  each  class,  provision 
is  made  for  aged  couples  to  live  together;  the  position, 
convenience,  and  comfort  bf  their  rooms  varying  as 
described  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs.  So  much  mis- 
conception exists  in  reference  to  the  alleged  separation 
of  aged  married  couples  that  it  cannot  be  too  emphati- 
cally stated  that  whenever  a  man  and  wife,  both  over 
the  prescribed  age  of  60,  desire  to  live  together,  arrange- 
ments are  made  for  them  to  do  so  unless  their  physical 
condition  makes  treatment  in  infirm  or  hospital  wards 
a  necessity. 

C.  THE  SYSTEM  IN  DENMARK 
Denmark  is  one  of  the  countries  which  has  adopted 
the  old  age  pension,  and  the  classification  in  the  homes 
for  the  aged  is  made  simpler  by  this  fact.  The  method 
of  institutional  care  of  the  poor  adopted  is  by  means 
of  a  series,  either  of  institutions  as  in  the  larger  cities, 
or  of  departments  within  the  one  institution,  as  occurs 
in  the  smaller  places. 

The  division  is  threefold.  The  largest  department 
is  the  almshouse  proper  as  we  usually  understand  it, 
i.  e.,  a  place  for  paupers  generally,  without  distinction 
of  classes,  except  that  the  inmates  are  old  or  feeble. 
This  is  called  the  "Fattighus,"  or  poorhouse.  Then 
there  is  another  institution  in  a  separate  department, 
13  193 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

sometimes  a  wing  of  the  same  building,  sometimes  a 
distinct  building  on  an  adjoining  lot  and  sometimes 
quite  a  distance  away,  called  the  workhouse,  to  which 
are  sent  the  able-bodied,  vagrant,  idle  and  intemperate. 
There  they  are  set  at  work  if  they  have  working  ability, 
and  are  trained  in  industry  if  they  have  none.  Their 
labor  is  organized  so  that  it  has  an  economic  value 
and  they  must  earn  a  certain  sum  over  and  above  the 
cost  of  their  care,  part  of  which  amount  they  receive 
from  time  to  time  and  part  is  reserved  to  help  them  to 
become  established  on  their  discharge. 

Quite  distinct  from  the  almshouse  and  the  work- 
house, although  sometimes  only  as  a  distinct  depart- 
ment, is  the  asylum  for  the  aged  (in  Danish  "  Gamels- 
hejm'').  Admission  to  this  is  reserved  for  people 
eligible  to  the  old  age  pension,  who  are  the  best  class  of 
the  poor. 

Visits  to  the  institutions  for  the  poor  in  Copenhagen, 
and  to  one  in  the  town  of  Roskilde  having  the  three 
departments  combined  in  the  same  institution,  were 
very  interesting  as  well  as  instructive.  The  following 
is  a  translation  of  a  report  prepared  (in  French)  for  the 
International  Congress  of  Public  Relief  and  Private 
Philanthropy,  August,  1910. 

THE  COPENHAGEN  ASYLUM  FOR  THE  AGED 

(L'Asile  des  Vieillards) 

Building  began  in  1897  and  the  asylum  was  dedi- 
cated by  the  municipality  of  Copenhagen  in  October, 
1901 .  It  is  intended  for  people  who  are  legally  entitled 
to  an  old  age  pension.  The  law  requires  that  the 
pensioner  shall  be  sixty  years  old,  shall  never  have  been 
sentenced  for  crime  or  misdemeanor,  and  for  five  years 
past  shall  not  have  been  in  receipt  of  public  relief. 

194 


APPENDIX   VII 

The  city  bestows  old  age  pensions  on  about  8000 
persons;  the  asylum,  where  there  is  room  for  470,  is 
intended  for  those  entirely  incapacitated  for  work,  who 
are  without  relatives,  or  those  whose  physical  condition 
requires  continual  medical  attention  and  nursing. 

The  building  consists  of  three  wings,  opening  upon 
a  large  garden,  with  a  pergola,  a  fountain,  and  many 
seats.  The  halls,  loggias,  sitting  rooms,  etc.,  are 
ornamented  with  pictures  and  plants.  The  heating  is 
by  a  central  system.  The  ground  floor  and  first  floors 
are  specially  for  old  people  who  have  moderately  good 
health  and  can  dress  themselves  and  attend  to  their 
personal  wants.  The  bedrooms  are  arranged  for  old 
married  couples,  or  for  four  to  six  persons.  A  loggia 
opening  to  the  garden  affords  a  pleasant  lounging  place 
in  fme  weather  and  four  large  halls  are  used  for  dining 
rooms  and  for  meeting  places.  This  section  has  room 
for  214. 

The  section  for  the  feebler  ones  (des  faibles)  has  1 20 
beds  and  is  partly  on  the  first,  partly  on  the  second, 
and  partly  on  the  third  floor. 

The  infirmary  (Section  des  malades)  with  120  beds 
is  partly  on  the  second  and  partly  on  the  third  floor. 
For  the  needs  of  the  feeble  and  sick  ones,  there  are  three 
loggias,  two  closed  and  the  third  open.  The  office  of 
the  physician  (Salle  de  consultation),  a  pharmacy,  and 
an  operating  room  are  on  the  second  floor.  A  library 
is  on  the  first  floor  and  in  the  basement  are  baths,  store 
rooms,  a  laundry,  etc. 

The  food  for  all  in  the  asylum  comes  from  the  kitchen 
of  the  nearby  general  almshouse  ('THopital  General,'' 
— in  Danish  "Fattighus'').  The  inmates  are  supplied 
with  food  and  clothing  and  one  Krone  (27  cents),  or 
50  cere  (13K  cents),  in  cash  per  week,  those  who  have 

195 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

given  up  to  the  asylum  a  small  revenue  or  a  pension, 
receiving  one  Krone. 

The  asylum  is  only  for  those  whose  conduct  merits  its 
privileges;  for  certain  faults,  drunkenness,  mendicity 
or  other  ill  conduct,  they  may  be  sent  to  the  general 
almshouse. 

The  inmates  are  under  no  restraint,  but  may  freely 
leave  the  asylum  to  visit  friends,  or  the  city,  if  their 
health  permits. 

Up  to  the  year  1909,  578  persons  had  been  received, 
and  141  had  died.  During  1909,  there  were  147  ad- 
missions, of  whom  107  came  from  different  city  hospitals 
and  only  40  from  the  city  itself.  The  average  age  of 
the  men  admitted  was  seventy-six  years,  of  the  women 
a  little  over  seventy-seven.  Sixty-one  persons  were 
between  sixty  and  seventy;  227  between  seventy  and 
eighty;  142  between  eighty  and  ninety-five.  Many  of 
the  patients  are  bed-ridden,  some  are  demented,  most 
require  a  great  deal  of  care.  The  average  number 
present  during  1909  was  about  155,  and  the  total  cost 
311,385  Kroner  35  oere  ($83,448.25).  The  daily  per 
capita  cost  for  the  infirm  was  2  Kroner  20  oere  (about 
54  cents).  The  staff  numbers  113,  of  whom  80  are 
employed  in  nursing  the  sick. 

The  expense  is  divided  between  the  city  and  the 
state  on  the  same  basis  as  the  old  age  pensions. 

The  Home  for  the  Aged  is  a  model  of  comfort  and 
cleanliness.  One  feature  that  struck  the  visitor  espe- 
cially was  a  plan  for  moving  bed-ridden  patients,  plac- 
ing them  during  the  day  in  their  cots  upon  trestles 
near  the  windows  so  that  they  can  look  out  over  the 
garden  or  the  street.  The  freedom  from  restrictive 
rules,  the  general  peace  and  good  order — evidently  the 

196 


APPENDIX   VII 

result  of  comfort  and  satisfaction,  were  unmistakable. 
Nevertheless  the  majority  of  the  old  age  pensioners 
prefer  to  live  on  their  small  pension  outside.  With 
room  for  470,  only  about  155  were  present,  while  the 
city  claims  8000  old  age  pensioners.  A  similar  report 
of  the  institution  of  the  same  class  in  the  city  ot 
d'Aarhus,  showed  a  slightly  larger  proportion  of  old 
age  pensioners  accepting  the  asylum.  That  city  has 
1227  pensioners  and  87  live  in  the  asylum. 

The  relative  numbers  of  inmates  in  the  three  insti- 
tutions for  the  poor  at  Copenhagen  are  as  follows: 
In  the  almshouse  proper  about  1500;  capacity  1800. 
In  the  workhouse  about  500;  capacity  1000.  In  the 
Asylum  for  the  Aged  about  155;  capacity  470. 

Although  the  administration  of  the  Asylum  for  the 
Aged  is  under  the  same  department  of  the  city  govern- 
ment as  the  almshouse,  and  although  its  privileges, 
like  that  of  the  old  age  pension  itself,  are  dependent 
upon  the  economic  status,  as  well  as  the  age  and  physical 
condition,  of  the  beneficiaries,  yet  there  is  a  real  dis- 
tinction arising  from  the  fact  that  the  inmates  of  the 
asylum,  as  well  as  the  old  age  pensioners,  are  by  law 
held  not  to  be  paupers,  and  the  various  civic  disabilities 
which  pauperism  entails  in  Denmark  do  not  attach  to 
them. 

An  interesting  feature  of  each  of  the  three  methods 
of  indoor  relief  in  Copenhagen  is  that  every  inmate  is 
allowed  a  small  sum  of  money  for  personal  expenditure. 
Even  the  oldest  and  feeblest  in  the  almshouse,  who  are 
quite  incapable  of  work,  are  allowed  30  oere  (about  9 
cents)  per  week.  Others  who  do  some  work  receive 
more. 


197 


APPENDIX  VIII 

COUNTY  HOUSES  OF  CORRECTION   IN  NEW 
HAMPSHIRE 

From  the  Sixth  Biennial  Report  of  the  New  Hampshire  State 
Board  of  Charities 

This  board  must  again  report  that  the  law  providing 
that  county  farm  buildings  "shall  be  deemed  houses 
of  correction''  still  remains  unchanged  upon  our  statute 
books;  also  the  deplorable  fact  that  they  are  so  used. 

The  law  authorizing  the  use  of  these  institutions 
for  penal  purposes  was  the  result  of  an  unwise  supposi- 
tion on  some  one's  part  that  the  number  committed 
to  such  institutions  for  petty  offenses  would  be  so  small 
that  from  an  economic  as  well  as  a  reformatory  point 
of  view  only  good  would  result.  The  most  important 
premise  in  the  case  was  apparently  lost  sight  of  for  the 
time  being;  namely,  that  the  pauper  and  petty  criminal 
should  never  be  sheltered  in  the  same  institution  and 
should  never  in  spirit  or  practice  be  classified  together. 

To  prove  the  fallacy  of  the  idea  that  the  number  to 
be  sent  to  these  institutions  would  be  few,  we  have  only 
to  turn  to  our  statistics:  During  the  year  ending  Sep- 
tember 30,  1905,  1,786  prisoners  (1,653  men  and  133 
women)  were  sent  to  the  county  houses  of  correction 
at  county  farms,  and  383  to  the  houses  of  correction 
at  the  Nashua  and  Manchester  city  farms.  Of  the 
number  sent  to  county  farms,  1,637  were  committed 
for  drunkenness,  and  149  for  other  offenses. 

198 


APPENDIX  VIII 

During  the  year  ending  September  30,  1906,  2,342 
prisoners  (2,161  men  and  181  women)  were  sent  to  the 
houses  of  correction  at  county  farms  and  128  to  the 
house  of  correction  at  Nashua  City  Farm.  (The  Man- 
chester City  Farm  was  aboHshed  in  July,  1905.)  Of 
the  number  sent  to  county  farms,  2, 181  were  committed 
for  drunkenness  and  161  for  other  offenses. 

The  total  number  reported  October  i,  1905  (2,169), 
shows  a  decrease  of  38  over  the  number  (2,207)  reported 
the  year  before;  but  the  total  number  (2,470)  reported 
October  i,  1906,  is  the  largest  number  ever  returned  to 
this  board,  and  shows  an  increase  of  301  prisoners  at 
the  several  houses  of  correction  during  the  past  year. 

Consequently,  we  find  one  portion  of  our  almshouses 
set  aside  for  the  habitation  of  the  tramp  when  he  is 
no  longer  disposed  to  travel;  the  drunkard  when  he  can 
no  longer  keep  the  peace;  the  thief  when  his  crime  is 
not  startling  enough  to  demand  iron  bars  sufficiently 
strong  to  confine  the  most  desperate  criminal ;  and  the 
person  whose  immorality  has  become  reprehensible 
to  the  community  at  large — all  sentenced  for  certain 
terms  varying  in  length  of  time  from  twenty  days  to 
one  year,  with  no  provision  for  suspension  of  sentence  in 
case  of  good  behavior.  Too  many  of  this  number  are 
really  what  might  be  termed  "self-committed."  They 
commit  some  petty  ofi'ense  in  order  to  secure  comfort- 
able quarters  for  the  winter,  where  they  will  be  freely 
allowed  the  companionship  of  their  kind.  If  some  sort 
of  parole  system  could  be  established  it  might  serve  as 
an  index  in  pointing  out  these  "dead  beats"  and  those 
capable  of  reformatory  influence. 

The  counties  by  law  are  obliged  to  provide  shelter 
and  food  for  this  class.  The  policy  is  to  furnish  them 
work  if  there  is  any,  but  it  is  evident  there  is  not  suffi- 

199 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

cient  hard  labor  to  make  these  institutions  objectionable 
to  these  "knights  of  leisure/'  In  this  state,  where 
there  is  enough  work  and  more  than  enough  for  these 
persons  to  do,  should  they  not  be  obliged  to  do  it,  and 
should  there  not  be  some  system  in  providing  it  for 
them?  Seemingly,  the  most  rational  plan  by  which 
to  accomplish  this  laudable  purpose  would  be  to  estab- 
lish a  state  workhouse  under  state  supervision  where 
criminals  can  be  committed  and  where  they  can  be 
delegated  to  do  the  work  for  which  there  seems  to  be 
the  greatest  need,  whether  in  a  woodyard,  at  a  stone 
pile,  or  upon  our  New  Hampshire  roads. 


200 


APPENDIX  IX 
A.    IMBECILES  IN  THE  ALMSHOUSE 

Below  will  be  found  an  extract  from  a  paper  read  by 
Mr.  Ernest  P.  Bicknell,  at  that  time  secretary  of  the 
Board  of  State  Charities  of  Indiana.  The  persons  of 
whose  history  he  gives  us  some  important  facts  were 
nearly  all  inmates,  either  continuously  or  intermittently, 
of  county  almshouses,  a  large  number  of  them  having 
been  born  in  the  almshouse. 

It  is  a  reasonable  assertion  to  make  that  a  large  pro- 
portion of  these  degenerate  people  are  actually  a  by- 
product of  public  relief,  and  especially  of  the  almshouse 
relief.  They  have  been  kept  alive  and  their  perpetua- 
tion has  been  made  possible,  if  it  has  not  actually  been 
encouraged,  by  public  relief. 

It  is  true  that  many  of  them  would  have  survived 
and  would  have  perpetuated  their  unhappy  kind,  with- 
out public  relief, — private  philanthropy  is  equally  to 
blame,  perhaps  more  guilty,  in  some  cases.  Neverthe- 
less the  indictment  stands.  We  have  these  people  as  a 
public  burden  because  when  we  feed,  shelter  and  clothe 
them — as  we  must,  we  do  not  also  control  them — as 
we  ought. 


20I 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

B.  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS  AS  AN 
INHERITANCE 
Extract  from  a  Paper  read  by  Mr.  Ernest  P.  Bicknell  at  the 
National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  i8g6  * 
It  has  been  with  a  view  to  determine  whether  a  large 
per  cent  of  feeble-mindedness  is  inherited  from  feeble- 
minded parents  that  I  have  for  the  last  two  years  been 
gradually  collecting  statistics  bearing  more  or  less 
directly  on  this  question.  The  work  has  been  done 
simply  as  time  could  be  snatched  from  pressing  duties, 
and  the  opportunity  has  been  lacking  to  trace  out 
complicated  lines  of  relationship  or  search  for  missing 
links.  The  families  with  whose  histories  I  have  dealt 
have  been  paupers  in  part  or  all  of  their  members,  and 
much  of  my  information  has  been  obtained  from  poor 
asylum  records.  Nothing  in  this  work  has  been  taken 
for  granted.  Absence  of  facts  has  in  every  instance 
counted  against  the  strength  of  the  showing  made  in  the 
statistics.  If  no  reliable  information  was  obtainable 
about  an  individual,  he  was  invariably  counted  of 
sound  mind,  no  matter  how  strong  were  inferential 
reasons  for  believing  him  of  feeble  mind.  The  result 
of  this  policy  has  been  the  certainty  that  the  actual 
facts,  could  they  be  fully  known,  would  perceptibly 
strengthen  the  force  of  the  statistics  collected.  Of 
generations  now  living,  essential  facts  are  usually  to 
be  had,  if  persistently  sought;  of  generations  dead, 
reliable  information  is  often  impossible  to  get. 

Something  of  the  histories  of  248  families  have  been 
recorded  here.  They  are  not  clean  cut,  not  properly 
rounded  out.    They  begin  in  obscurity,  come  into  view 

*  See  Proceedings  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
1896,  p.  219. 

202 


APPENDIX    IX 

for  a  few  years,  and  fall  back  to  obscurity  again.  But 
the  broken  stories  of  their  misery,  their  perpetuation 
of  their  own  wretched  kind,  their  demoraHzing  influence 
on  their  fellows,  their  dragging  down  of  the  average  of 
morality,  intelligence,  and  physical  development,  are 
sorrowful  beyond  words. 

The  whole  number  of  persons  composing  these  248 
families  is  887.  Of  the  395  males,  222,  or  56.2  per  cent, 
were  found  to  be  feeble-minded;  and  of  the  492  females, 
340,  or  69  per  cent,  were  feeble-minded.  Of  the  887 
persons,  therefore,  562,  or  63.2  per  cent,  were  mentally 
defective.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  feeble-minded- 
ness  among  the  females  exceeded  that  among  the  males 
by  12.8  per  cent.  It  is  possible  that  this  difference  may 
be  accounted  for  by  the  greater  ease  of  tracing  a  history 
of  feeble-mindedness  in  females,  because  the  results 
of  mental  deficiency  in  them  are  usually  more  visible 
and  far-reaching  than  in  males.  This  is  not  offered 
as  a  sufficient  explanation  of  the  difference  disclosed, 
but  only  as  a  suggestion  possibly  worthy  of  attention. 

In  loi  of  the  248  families  under  consideration  has 
been  found  a  history  of  feeble-mindedness  extending 
through  more  than  one  generation.  These  supply 
examples  of  the  transmittal  of  feeble-mindedness  from 
parent  to  child.  In  those  of  the  248  families  in  which 
only  one  generation  of  mental  deficiency  has  been  dis- 
covered the  feeble-mindedness  could  not  have  been 
inherited  from  feeble-minded  parents,  and  must  have 
been  the  result  of  other  causes,  of  which  there  may  be 
many  but  which  time  forbids  me  now  to  discuss.  We 
have  an  opportunity,  therefore,  to  determine  by  a 
comparison  whether  feeble-mindedness  in  children  is 
more  or  less  likely  to  result  from  feeble-mindedness  in 
parents  than  from  other  causes. 

203 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

If  the  percentage  of  feeble-mindedness  in  families 
where  there  is  a  history  of  this  defect,  running  through 
two  or  more  generations,  is  greater  than  in  families  in 
which  feeble-mindedness  is  not  inherited  from  feeble- 
minded parents,  then  the  fair  inference  would  seem  to 
be  that  mental  deficiency  in  the  parents  is  that  condi- 
tion which  is  most  certain  to  result  in  feeble-mindedness 
in  the  offspring.  The  loi  families  in  which  more  than 
one  generation  of  feeble-mindedness  was  found  num- 
bered 447  different  persons.  Eighty-six  families  with 
312  members  had  a  record  of  feeble-mindedness  in  two 
generations;  42  families  with  77  members  had  feeble- 
mindedness in  three  generations,  while  two  families 
showed  four  and  one  five  generations  of  this  defect. 
Of  the  447  persons  in  these  10 1  families  in  which  mental 
deficiency  was  known  to  have  descended  from  parents 
to  children,  359,  or  80  per  cent,  were  found  to  be  feeble- 
minded. In  the  remaining  147  families  under  dis- 
cussion in  this  paper,  in  which  feeble-mindedness  has 
been  found  in  but  one  generation,  there  were  440  differ- 
ent persons,  of  whom  203,  or  46.  i  per  cent,  were  feeble- 
minded. 

Thus  we  find  that  in  families  in  which  mental  de- 
ficiency descends  from  parent  to  children  the  per  cent 
of  feeble-mindedness  is  80,  while  in  those  families  in 
which  feeble-mindedness  is  the  result  of  all  other  causes 
the  per  cent  is  46.1.  Other  and  more  complete  in- 
vestigations must  be  made  before  these  percentages 
can  be  accepted  as  reliable.  Certainly,  no  other  physi- 
cal or  mental  weakness  can  show  a  hereditary  trans- 
mittal in  80  out  of  every  possible  100  opportunities. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  this  enquiry  has  once  more 
emphasized  the  close  relationship  which  exists  between 
feeble-mindedness  and  those  other  defects  of  mind  and 

204 


APPENDIX    IX 

body  commonly  regarded  as  hereditary.  Of  the  887 
persons  concerning  whom  the  foregoing  statistics  were 
collected,  2.6  per  cent  were  epileptics,  3  per  cent  insane, 
8  per  cent  blind,  and  1.7  per  cent  deaf  and  dumb. 
Compare  these  percentages  with  the  percentages  of 
the  same  defects  in  the  normal  population.  Employ- 
ing the  statistics  supplied  by  the  Eleventh  Federal 
Census,  we  find  that  in  the  United  States  in  1890  the 
insane  composed  two-tenths  of  i  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion, the  blind  eight  one-hundredths  of  i  per  cent, 
and  the  deaf  and  dumb  six  one-hundredths  of  i  per 
cent.  Expressing  the  comparison  differently,  in  10,000 
persons  from  the  normal  population  we  should  expect 
to  find  20  insane  persons,  8  blind,  and  6  deaf  and  dumb; 
while  in  a  population  of  10,000  belonging  to  families  in 
which  there  is  a  strain  of  feeble-mindedness  we  should 
expect  to  find,  according  to  the  statistics  here  presented, 
300  insane  persons,  80  blind,  and  170  deaf  and  dumb. 
Were  this  comparison  known  to  be  wholly  trustworthy, 
it  would  prove  that  the  causes  which  produce  feeble- 
mindedness are  only  less  terrible  in  their  collateral 
effects.  The  constitutional  weakness  which  permits 
the  entrance  of  one  of  these  ills  seems  to  swing  wide 
the  doors  in  invitation  to  all  the  others.  But  we  are 
not  ready  to  accept  the  statistics  which  have  been  pre- 
sented as  exclusive.  The  number  of  cases  on  which 
one  side  of  the  comparison  is  based  is  far  too  small  to 
afford  a  substantial  foundation  for  so  important  a 
verdict.  Of  this  comparison  I  think  we  may  safely 
say  it  is  significant  in  the  direction  in  which  it  turns  our 
thought,  and  that  it  suggests  fuller  investigation  by 
different  persons  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  It 
is  to  be  noted  also  that  the  comparison  here  made  is 
not  breaking  a  new  path  of  enquiry,  but  follows  an  old 

205 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

trail,  well  defined,  and  serves  only  to  add  a  few  more 
finger  posts  to  those  already  set. 

In  any  discussion  of  feeble-mindedness  it  is  hardly 
possible  to  avoid  referring  to  the  prevalence  of  illegiti- 
macy among  this  class  of  unfortunates.  It  forces  itself 
upon  the  attention  of  the  investigator  at  every  turn, 
and  the  fact  very  soon  becomes  patent  that  a  large  per 
cent  of  all  the  illegitimacy  occurring  in  the  country 
is  to  be  charged  to  those  whose  mental  condition  makes 
them  partially  or  wholly  irresponsible  for  the  evils 
which  they  produce.  In  collecting  the  statistics  above 
presented  concerning  887  persons,  there  were  found  to 
be  among  them  186  cases  of  illegitimacy.  That  is, 
21  per  cent  of  all  the  members  of  248  families,  in  which 
a  strain  of  feeble-mindedness  was  found,  were  known 
to  be  illegitimate;  while  the  marriage  bonds  were  so 
little  regarded  by  a  great  many  of  the  families  that  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  actual  proportion  of  illegitimacy, 
could  the  truth  be  known,  would  be  shown  to  be  much 
greater  than  the  21  per  cent  given.  In  reckoning  the 
evils  which  are  entailed  upon  society  by  feeble-minded- 
ness, illegitimacy,  with  all  the  demoralization  and  de- 
gradation which  accompany  it,  must  be  assigned  a 
prominent  place. 

Did  time  permit,  it  would  be  of  interest  to  refer  more 
particularly  to  some  of  the  families  whose  records  have 
contributed  to  the  statistics  of  feeble-mindedness  and 
kindred  evils  which  have  been  presented.  A  history 
of  actual  cases  might  convey  a  more  vivid  appreciation 
of  the  unhappy  conditions  surrounding  and  controlling 
the  feeble-minded  than  is  produced  by  the  discussion 
of  totals  and  percentages.  I  must  limit  illustration 
to  the  partial  history  of  a  single  family. 

In  one  of  our  southern  Indiana  counties  the  poorhouse 
206 


APPENDIX    IX 

records  have  been  preserved  for  thirty-five  years.  Dur- 
ing that  entire  time  one  family  has  been  represented 
among  the  pauper  population.  This  family's  pauper 
record  probably  extends  yet  farther  back;  but,  since 
the  records  of  an  earlier  date  have  not  been  saved,  the 
statement  cannot  be  positively  made.  In  the  thirty- 
five  years  of  which  a  record  has  been  kept  it  is  found 
that  30  members  of  this  family  have  been  inmates  of 
the  poorhouse.  As  most  of  them  have  remained  years 
and  some  have  lived  in  the  institution  almost  con- 
tinuously since  the  record  began,  it  is  a  fact  that  an 
average  of  three  or  four,  possibly  five,  members  of  this 
family  have  been  in  the  poorhouse  at  all  times  for  fully 
one-third  of  a  century.  Other  members  have  been 
the  recipients  of  outdoor  relief,  while  a  few  have  man- 
aged to  "shift  for  themselves"  in  a  half-civilized  man- 
ner. 1  have  been  unable  to  determine,  even  approxi- 
mately, the  total  number  of  persons  in  the  family,  even 
since  the  poorhouse  record  began;  and  links  in  relation- 
ship are  here  and  there  missing.  The  following  frag- 
ment of  history,  which  I  have  succeeded  in  compiling, 
is  sufficient,  however,  to  illustrate  the  subject  under 
consideration. 

One  of  the  oldest  of  the  family  now  living  was  born 
in  1823.  He  is  feeble-minded.  His  first  wife  was 
feeble-minded.  Four  children  were  the  result  of  this 
marriage,  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  All  were 
feeble-minded.  These  children  were  named  Mary, 
Margaret,  Andrew,  and  George.  The  first  wife  died; 
and  in  his  old  age  this  man  married  a  second  time,  his 
second  choice  being  also  a  feeble-minded  woman.  Four 
children  resulted  from  the  second  marriage,  two  of  them 
feeble-minded;  but  no  record  of  the  mental  condition  of 
the  other  two  has  been  found.     The  two  daughters 

207 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

who  were  born  to  the  first  wife  of  this  man  were,  as  I 
have  said,  feeble-minded.  Both  are  Hving  today  and 
are  inmates  of  the  poor  asylum.  Neither  has  ever 
married.  Mary  has  borne  six  or  seven  children. 
Two  have  been  dead  for  years  and  their  mental  condi- 
tion is  not  positively  known.  Two  daughters  now 
living  are  in  the  School  for  Feeble-minded;  and  a  son, 
who  died  within  a  few  years,  was  feeble-minded.  A 
third  daughter  is  feeble-minded,  and  is  the  wife  of  a 
feeble-minded  man.  They  are  not  in  the  poor  asylum, 
but  live  in  a  neighboring  county,  where  they  are  given 
assistance  by  a  township  trustee.  This  couple  has  one 
child,  of  whose  mental  condition  I  have  no  information. 
The  other  sister,  Margaret,  has  a  daughter,  feeble- 
minded and  unmarried,  and  a  feeble-minded  son  now 
in  the  School  for  Feeble-minded.  This  woman  has 
also  borne  two  other  children,  now  dead,  but  both  said 
to  have  been  feeble-minded.  Of  the  son  Andrew  we 
have  no  record.  He  is  dead,  and  probably  died  in 
youth.  The  son  George  married  a  feeble-minded 
woman  and  a  feeble-minded  son  was  born  to  them. 
George  afterwards  separated  from  his  wife,  and  later 
married  a  second  feeble-minded  woman.  Before  mar- 
riage this  woman  had  borne  a  feeble-minded  son  by  a 
former  husband  and  an  illegitimate  feeble-minded  son 
by  George.  So  far  as  known,  every  member  of  the 
family  has  been  feeble-minded.  At  least  ten  members 
have  been  illegitimate.  The  history  of  this  family 
is  not  closed.  In  truth,  its  productive  power  for  evil 
is  probably  greater  today  than  at  any  time  in  its  history. 
Again  comes  the  question  asked  in  the  earlier  part 
of  this  paper.  Can  anything  be  done  to  check  or  pre- 
vent? I  believe  we  are  prepared  to  answer,  yes. 
The  feeble-minded  which  we  have  we  must  keep  until 

208 


APPENDIX   IX 

they  die,  but  they  need  not  be  allowed  to  bring  other 
feeble-minded  into  existence.  Prohibition  would  not 
check  the  operation  of  the  first  causes  of  mental  de- 
ficiency, but  it  would  stop  the  inheritance  of  the  defect 
from  parents  similarly  afflicted.  Incomplete  and  incon- 
clusive as  the  statistics  which  I  have  here  presented  may 
be,  they  certainly  serve  to  demonstrate  that  a  very 
large  per  cent  of  feeble-mindedness  springs  from  feeble- 
minded progenitors.  Let  a  stop  be  put  to  this  source, 
and  the  immediate  cause  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
feeble-mindedness  in  the  country  today  would,  I  believe, 
be  removed. 

The  fact  that  feeble-mindedness  may  be,  and  often 
is,  inherited,  supplies  a  solid  foundation  upon  which 
to  base  restrictive  and  preventive  measures.  The 
knowledge  should  serve  to  give  definiteness  and  direc- 
tion to  our  work,  and  a  gauge  by  which  to  measure 
results.  It  may  not  assist  in  preventing  first  genera- 
tions of  feeble-mindedness,  but  it  proves  that  second 
and  subsequent  generations  may  be  prevented  by  means 
within  our  control.  Whatever  the  differences  of  opinion 
among  investigators  as  to  first  causes  or  chief  causes, 
or  whatever  plans  may  be  proposed  for  reaching  and 
remedying  or  alleviating  the  evil,  I  believe  it  a  safe 
conclusion,  and  worthy  of  acceptance,  that,  while 
society  is  remotely  responsible  for  the  first  generation 
of  feeble-mindedness  in  any  family,  its  responsibility 
for  every  subsequent  generation  of  feeble-mindedness 
in  the  same  direct  line  of  descent  is  clear-cut  and  beyond 
question. 


H  209 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

B.  APPENDIX  TO  PRESIDENTIAL  ADDRESS 
OF  AMOS  W.  BUTLER* 

Mr.  Bicknell  was  succeeded  as  secretary  of  the 
Indiana  Board  by  Mr.  Amos  W.  Butler.  Mr.  Butler 
continued  the  study  of  the  same  set  of  fami  ies  for  a 
number  of  years,  adding  to  the  record  many  inmates 
of  almshouses,  others  who  were  inmates  of  other  insti- 
tutions than  the  almshouse,  and  also  many  collateral 
relatives. 

In  1907,  Mr.  Butler  being  president  of  the  National 
Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction  made  his 
presidential  address  on  "The  Burden  of  Feeble-minded- 
ness,''  and  an  appendix  to  that  address  presented  the 
additional  figures  as  follows  if 

The  State  Board  of  Charities  of  Indiana  maintains 
in  its  oifice  a  card  registration  of  public  institution 
inmates.  Beginning  in  1890,  with  the  records  of  four 
hospitals  for  the  insane  and  ninety-two  county  poor 
asylums,  the  registration  has  been  enlarged  from  time 
to  time  and  now  contains  the  records  of  the  movement 
of  population  of  148  institutions  and  includes  the  names 
of  about  75,000  persons  who  have  at  some  time  been 
inmates  thereof.  The  following  figures  are  based  upon 
these  records: 

Eight  hundred  and  three  families,  selected  because  of 
feeble-mindedness  in  one  or  more  generations,  were 
found  to  consist  of  3,048  members,  an  average  of  3.79 
persons  to  each  family.  There  were  1,395  males  and 
1 ,653  females.  Nine  hundred  forty-two,  or  67  per  cent, 
of  the  males,  and  1,166,  or  70  per  cent,  of  the  females, 

*See  Proceedings  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
1907*  P-  I- 

t  See  Proceedings  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
1907,  p.  61 1. 

210 


APPENDIX   IX 

are  known  to  have  been,  at  some  time  or  other,  inmates 
of  public  institutions  in  Indiana,  principally  county 
poor  asylums.  More  than  half  of  these  persons  were 
feeble-minded.  The  mental  defect  occurred  sometimes 
in  the  parents,  again  in  the  children,  frequently  in  both 
parents  and  children.  The  mental  and  physical  condi- 
tion of  the  entire  number  is  as  follows: 


Condition 


Feeble-minded 

Insane 

"Dull" 

Epileptic 

Blind,  deaf  or  paralytic 
Normal  or  unknown. . . 

Total 


Males 

Females 

Total 

629 

965 

1594 

44 

52 

96 

76 

47 

123 

16 

18 

34 

22 

'4 

36 

608 

557 

1 165 

1395 

1653 

3048 

Percen- 
tage 


52.3 
3.2 

4- 

I.I 

I.I 

38.3 


1 00.0 


Feeble-mindedness  is  frequently  accompanied  by 
some  other  defect,  such  as  epilepsy,  blindness,  deafness 
or  paralysis.  Epilepsy  occurs  more  frequently  than 
the  others  mentioned.  Fifty-six  of  the  males  and  79 
of  the  females  marked  feeble-minded  in  the  above 
tabulation  are  also  epileptic,  blind,  deaf,  or  paralytic. 
The  whole  number  of  epileptics  found  in  these  families 
is  113.  Counting  those  reported  as  feeble-minded, 
insane,  dull,  or  epileptic,  there  are  765  males  and  i  ,082 
females,  a  total  of  i  ,847,  or  60.6  per  cent,  who  are  men- 
tally defective.  The  greater  number  of  females  is  due 
partly  to  the  fact  that  some  of  these  "families''  consist, 
so  far  as  the  records  go,  of  a  feeble-minded  woman  and 
her  child  or  children,  frequently  illegitimate. 

It  has  not  been  possible  to  learn  the  percentage  of 
211 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

every  one  of  these  3,048  individuals,  but  counting 
those  of  whom  we  have  some  information,  we  have 
found  that  in  the  case  of  1,074,  or  35.2  per  cent,  the 
mother  was  either  mentally  or  physically  defective 
and  the  father  was  unknown  or  normal;  of  297,  or  9.7 
per  cent,  the  father  was  defective  and  the  mother 
unknown  or  normal;  of  377,  or  12.4  per  cent,  both 
parents  were  defective,  making  an  aggregate  of  1,748, 
or  57-3  per  cent,  whose  father,  mother,  or  both  father 
and  mother  were  defective.  Of  43,  or  1.4  per  cent, 
the  parents  were  related,  but  not  defective  so  far  as 
we  have  record.  Of  the  remaining  1,257,  or  41.2  per 
cent,  the  mental  condition  of  the  parents  is  either 
unknown  or  normal.  Of  the  entire  number,  421,  or 
13.8  per  cent,  are  reported  as  illegitimate. 

Included  in  these  803  families  are  3 12  in  which  feeble- 
mindedness was  found  in  two  or  more  generations. 
The  whole  number,  312,  includes  261  families  of  two 
generations  each,  42  families  of  three  generations  each, 
seven  families  of  four  generations  each  and  two  families 
of  five  generations  each.  In  no  one  of  these  families 
is  there  less  than  two  generations  of  feeble-mindedness, 
and  frequently  the  mental  defect  extends  to  the  last 
generation  of  which  we  have  record.  Were  it  possible 
to  follow  into  later  life  the  children  composing,  for  the 
most  part,  the  third,  fourth  and  fifth  generations  in 
the  table  which  follows,  we  would  doubtless  find  it 
necessary  to  place  them  in  the  "Feeble-Minded'' 
column  instead  of  in  the  "Unknown  or  Normal" 
column.  In  these  figures,  however,  every  one  of  whose 
mental  defect  we  did  not  have  positive  record  has  been 
relegated  to  the  latter  column. 

In  the  different  generations  of  this  group  of  312 
families  there  are   1,643   individuals.     Of  the  whole 

212 


APPENDIX   IX 

number,  941,  or  57.2  per  cent,  are  feeble-minded,  while 
997,  or  60.6  per  cent,  are  either  mentally  or  physically 
defective.     In  the  first  generation  either  the  father  or 

PARENTAGE  OF  3,048  INDIVIDUALS 


Individuals 


Males     Females      Total 


132 
129 


o 

I 
I 
3 
2 
O 
I 

o 

2 

3 

S 
8 
6 
I 
9 
4 

10 
473 

13 
3 
6 
8 
o 
S 
2 
I 

45 
I 
3 
3 
o 


4S8 
21 


I39S 


108 

118 

o 

5 
4 
I 
2 
o 
o 


2 
II 

4 
3 
o 
7 
I 

10 
453 
8 
S 
4 
5 
I 

10 
I 
o 

40 
5 
2 
7 
I 
o 
7 
o 
3 
2 
799 

22 


240 

247 

I 

16 

12 

3 

I 
3 

2 


2 
5 

16 

12 
9 
I 

16 
5 

20 
Q26 


10 
13 

I 
IS 
3 

H 

s 

10 
I 

I 

12 
2 
9 

4 

1257 

43 


1653  3048 


Parents 


Father 


Feeble-minded 

Feeble-minded 

F.  M.,  Bl.  and  Df 

Feeble-minded 

Feeble-minded 

Feeble-minded , 

F.  M.,  and  Blind 

F.  M.,  Bl.  andEp.... 

F.M.  and  Blind 

F.M.  and  Blind 

F.M.  and  Blind , 

F.  M.  and  Epileptic  . . 

F.M.  and  Blind 

F.  M.  and  Paralytic.  . 
F.  M.  and  Paralytic.  . 
F.  M.  and  Epileptic  . . 

Feeble-minded , 

Insane 

F.  M.  and  Blind 

Insane 

Insane , 

Dull 

Normal  or  unknown .  . 
Normal  or  unknown .  . 

Epileptic 

Paralytic 

BUnd 

Normal  or  unknown . . 
Normal  or  imknown . . 
Normal  or  unknown . . 
Normal  or  unknown . . 
Normal  or  unknown .  . 
Normal  or  unknown .  . 

Epileptic 

Normal  or  unknown . . 

Deaf 

Deaf 

Blind 

Normal  or  imknown .  . 

Paralytic 

Normal  or  unknown .  . 
Normal  or  unknown .  . 
Related  to  mother ... 


Mother 


Feeble-minded 

Normal  or  unknown 

Normal  or  unknown 

Insane 

Epileptic 

F.  M.  and  Paralytic 

Feeble-minded 

Normal  or  unknown 

Blind 

Normal  or  unknown 

F.  M.  and  Blind 

Normal  or  unknown 

Insane 

Normal  or  unknown 

Feeble-minded 

Feeble-minded 

Paralytic 

Feeble-minded 

Epileptic 

Normal  or  unknown 

Insane 

Dull 

Feeble-minded 

F.  M.  and  Epileptic 

Feeble-minded 

Feeble-minded 

Feeble-minded 

F.  M.  and  Deaf 

Feeble-minded  and  Bl. 

F.  M.  and  Paralytic 

F.  M.,  Par.  and  Blind 

Insane 

DuU 

Normal  or  unknown 

Epileptic 

Normal  or  unknown 

Deaf 

Normal  or  imknown 

Blind 

Normal  or  unknown 

Paralytic 

Normal  or  unknown 


'F.  M.— Feeble-minded.    BL— Blind.     Df.— Deaf.     Ep.— Epileptic. 
Par. — ^Paralytic. 

213 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

the  mother,  and  frequently  both,  are  feeble-minded. 
Their  descendants  in  the  second  generation,  including 
59  men  and  women  who  married  into  the  families  and 
became  the  parents  of  later  generations,  number  754, 
of  whom  494,  or  65.5  per  cent,  are  feeble-minded,  while 
531,  or  70.4  per  cent,  are  either  mentally  or  physically 
defective.  The  entire  number  of  descendants,  extend- 
ing for  some  of  the  families  into  the  fifth  generation 
and  including  76  men  and  women  related  by  marriage, 
is  1,019,  and  among  these  are  584  feeble-minded  persons, 
624  being  either  physically  or  mentally  defective. 
This  indicates  feeble-mindedness  in  57.3  per  cent  and 
mental  or  physical  defect  in  61.2  per  cent  of  the  de- 
scendants of  these  312  unions,  in  which  the  man,  the 
woman  or  both  were  feeble-minded. 

It  would  be  easy  to  give  hundreds  of  instances  of  abuse, 
usually  sexual,  of  feeble-minded  persons  in  almshouses.  It 
is  the  common  understanding  that  few  or  none  of  the  women 
of  child-bearing  age  escape  maternity;  that  their  children 
though  frequently,  perhaps  usually,  by  strong-minded 
fathers,  ordinarily  inherit  the  mothers'  psychic  defect  in  some 
one  of  its  various  forms.  But  the  careful  scientific  collection 
of  facts  in  the  two  articles  presented  above,  guardedly  count- 
ing, as  they  do,  every  unknown  person  as  though  he  were 
normal,  makes  the  case  stronger  than  if  it  depended  on 
almost  any  number  of  striking  or  sensational  instances. 

The  conclusion  is  inevitable, — that  the  feeble-minded 
woman  of  child-bearing  age  is  not  in  her  proper  place  in  an 
almshouse,  and  that  if  perforce  she  must  be  kept  there,  in 
default  of  better  accommodation,  then  the  superintendent 
and  matron,  and  the  governing  board,  too,  are  under  the 
strongest  obligation  to  protect  her  against  abuse  and  the 
state  against  her  possible  progeny. — Author. 


214 


APPENDIX  X 

ADVICE    TO    AN    ALMSHOUSE 
SUPERINTENDENT 

Extract  from  a  Paper  read  by  Ernest  P.  Bicknell  at  the  National 
Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  i8g6  * 

First,  do  not  through  kindly  feeling  be  on  too  familiar 
terms  with  the  inmates.  Draw  a  plain  and  unmis- 
takable line  between  your  own  domestic  affairs  and  the 
affairs  of  the  asylum.  Do  not  allow  the  inmates  to 
lounge  in  or  around  your  own  private  quarters.  Treat 
the  inmates  quietly  and  respectfully.  Show  them  such 
courtesies  as  "Thank  you/'  "If  you  please/'  "Good 
morning/'  "That's  right/'  and  many  others  which  cost 
nothing  to  the  giver,  but  are  valuable  to  the  recipient. 
Jokes  are  dangerous,  but  a  simple  one  that  doesn't 
hurt  anybody's  feelings  is  not  a  bad  thing  occasionally 
to  dispel  the  gloom  which  is  likely  to  hang  heavy  over  a 
poorhouse.  Knock  on  the  doors  of  the  inmates'  rooms 
before  entering.  The  kind  of  superintendent  I  am 
dealing  with  here  would  never  use  profane  or  vulgar 
language  in  his  intercourse  with  inmates;  so  I  need  not 
stop  to  condemn  those  practices,  though  they  deserve 
the  severest  possible  condemnation.  Do  not  encourage 
any  advances  toward  familiarity  on  the  part  of  the 
inmates.     1 1  may  be  stated  that  the  slightest  encourage- 

*  Proceedings  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
1896,  p.  269. 

215 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

ment  in  this  direction  will  be  speedily  taken  advantage 
of.  When  I  visit  a  poor  asylum  and  hear  the  inmates 
address  the  superintendent  as  "John"  or  "Bill,"  1 
know  without  further  investigation  that  discipline 
in  that  institution  is  not  what  it  should  be.  Not  long 
ago  1  helped  a  county  get  rid  of  a  poor-asylum  superin- 
tendent. He  was  a  good-hearted  man  and  his  wife 
was  a  good  woman.  But  the  inmates  in  speaking  to 
them  called  him  "Jack"  and  her  "Mariar."  There 
was  the  general  looseness  of  affairs  which  this  would 
indicate,  and  they  had  to  go. 

Second,  be  kind,  but  firm  as  a  rock.  Let  your  hand 
be  steel,  but  cover  it  with  the  proverbial  velvet  glove. 
The  people  in  your  care  must  understand  that  you  will 
not  issue  an  order  or  make  a  rule  until  you  are  certain 
you  are  right;  and,  when  the  order  or  rule  is  made,  they 
must  know  that  it  is  to  be  obeyed  to  the  letter.  They 
will  try  a  good  many  experiments  before  they  will  be 
convinced  of  these  things,  and  will  make  trouble  for  you; 
but  in  time  they  will  accept  you  on  your  own  conditions, 
and  respect  you  for  your  firmness.  A  caution  should 
be  dropped  in  right  here  against  making  too  many  rules. 
The  thing  may  be  very  easily  overdone.  If  you  have  a 
great  many  rules,  you  are  likely  to  find  that  you  will 
have  to  make  frequent  exceptions  to  them,  or,  in  other 
words,  permit  them  to  be  violated  in  special  cases. 
When  you  begin  that,  you  might  almost  as  well  abolish 
them  at  once.  A  lot  of  rules,  too,  tend  to  make  the 
asylum  too  much  like  a  machine.  It  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  have  system  and  order,  but  you  must  allow 
yourself  enough  latitude  to  make  special  regulations 
for  special  cases.  A  rule  that  would  be  easy  for  nine 
inmates  to  obey  might  be  a  serious  hardship  or  injustice 
to  the  tenth.     Each  inmate  has  his  own  individuality; 

216 


APPENDIX    X 

and,  if  this  fact  is  not  recognized,  the  superintendent 
and  inmate  will  both  be  in  hot  water  much  of  the  time. 

Third,  be  systematic.  Every  poor-asylum  inmate 
should  be  employed  at  something,  if  he  has  wit  enough 
to  understand  simple  instructions  or  strength  to  go 
about.  The  work  need  not  be  heavy;  gauge  it  to  the 
person  who  is  to  do  it.  When  you  find  that  an  inmate 
can  do  a  certain  piece  of  work,  let  him  have  that  par- 
ticular thing  for  his  regular  duty,  and  hold  him  re- 
sponsible for  it.  He  will  then  not  have  to  be  constantly 
looked  after,  will  feel  contented  and  easy  in  knowing 
exactly  what  is  required  of  him,  and  will  become  more 
useful  because  constant  practice  will  train  him.  The 
superintendent,  being  to  a  certain  extent  relieved  of 
the  care  of  this  inmate,  will  have  more  time  for  other 
affairs,  and  will  know  where  to  fix  the  blame  if  this  par- 
ticular work  is  neglected.  Idiots  of  the  lowest  grade, 
with  some  careful  assistance  at  the  beginning,  may 
sometimes  be  made  very  faithful  and  useful  by  this  plan 
of  management.  I  do  not  know  of  any  kind  of  institu- 
tion, public  or  private,  in  which  disorder  and  confusion 
are  so  prone  to  flourish  and  so  hard  to  prevent  as  in 
poorhouses. 

Fourth,  you  will  have  to  meet  and  in  some  manner 
dispose  of  the  sex  problem  very  soon  after  you  take 
charge  of  the  asylum.  The  system  which  places 
paupers  of  both  sexes  under  the  same  roof  probably 
has  been  the  indirect  cause  of  more  trouble  to  super- 
intendents than  any  other  difficulty  which  has  to  be 
solved.  There  are  times  when  it  almost  seems  neces- 
sary to  remove  the  velvet  glove  from  the  hand  of  steel 
in  dealing  with  the  relations  of  the  sexes  in  the  asylums. 
The  low  and  vicious  tendencies  of  many  of  the  paupers, 
both  male  and  female,  are  vivified  and  excited  by  this 

217 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

proximity;  and  enough  ingenuity  is  expended  in  plan- 
ning evil  to  earn  an  honest  livelihood  for  the  schemers, 
if  turned  into  proper  channels.  The  proper  separation 
of  the  sexes  twenty-four  hours  every  day  is  essential  to 
good  discipline. 

Fifth,  let  your  government  be  quiet,  steady,  certain. 
Don't  get  excited  under  annoyance,  not  even  under 
exasperation.  Don't  enforce  orders  and  rules  rigidly 
one  day,  and  allow  them  to  be  violated  with  impunity 
the  next.  Tell  the  inmates  the  strict  truth  at  all  times. 
It  may  hurt  in  some  cases,  but  not  so  badly  as  it  will 
if  it  comes  later,  and  gives  the  lie  to  what  you  have 
previously  said.  Don't  allow  profane  language  among 
the  inmates.  Give  attention  to  the  food  on  the  in- 
mates' table.  Cleanliness  and  decent  cooking  and  appe- 
tizing serving  do  not  cost  anything  extra.  Even  variety 
and  some  vegetables  and  fruits  in  season  are  inexpensive 
and  worth  more  than  they  cost  in  the  contentment  and 
goodwill  which  they  inspire  in  the  inmates.  Insist 
on  scrupulous  cleanliness  high  and  low.  Scrub  the 
floors,  scrub  the  furniture,  scrub  the  people.  Whether 
we  live  well  or  ill  is  much  a  matter  of  habit;  it  is  the 
same  with  paupers.  Require  right  living  of  them.  It 
will  be  hard  at  first,  and  they  will  complain  bitterly, 
and  say  ugly  things  about  you.  In  a  little  while  habit 
will  get  hold  of  them,  and  they  will  fall  into  the  right 
way  and  be  content. 


218 


APPENDIX  XI 
OCCUPATIONS  FOR  DEFECTIVES 

Any  one  who  has  not  kept  up  with  the  improvement 
of  modern  practice  in  this  respect  will  be  surprised  to 
know  what  has  been  and  can  be  done  in  the  way  of 
employment  of  the  defectives  and  insane. 

Here  is  a  partial  list  of  the  industries  practiced  in  the 
Gardner  State  Colony  for  the  Insane  in  Massachusetts. 
Ten  insane  men  during  a  few  winter  months  cut  and 
hauled  logs  enough  to  make  46,000  feet  of  lumber.  The 
inmates  have  made  the  clothing  for  both  men  and 
women,  more  than  enough  for  their  own  use;  boots,  shoes 
and  slippers  for  men;  handkerchiefs;  neckties;  mittens 
and  hats,  plaiting  straws  for  the  straw  hats;  work 
baskets,  farm  and  fancy  baskets.  Other  industries 
are  weaving  of  carpets,  also  of  towelling  and  of  home- 
spun fabrics  for  winter  clothing;  building  of  houses, 
barns,  stables;  stone  breaking  and  crushing;  road 
making;  all  farming  and  gardening;  and  generally 
any  kind  of  work  that  ordinary  men  and  women  can  do. 

At  Yankton,  South  Dakota,  the  patients  do  most  of 
the  labor  of  building,  especially  making  cement  blocks, 
of  which  the  front  and  outer  walls  of  all  the  new  build- 
ings are  made.  The  rest  of  the  buildings  are  poured 
cement  construction,  in  which  the  patients  do  most  of 
the  work, — all  the  laboring  part, — with  the  result  of  a 
very  large  saving  of  money  to  the  state. 

The  Massachusetts  State  Farm  at  Bridgewater  is  not 
219 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

an  almshouse,  but  many  of  its  inmates  are  of  a  similar 
class  to  almshouse  inmates.  Among  them  are  a  number 
classed  as  criminally  insane.  Some  of  these  are  kept 
busy,  and  quiet,  cane-seating  chairs,  but  all  are  busy 
at  something.  This  is  one  of  the  most  successfully 
managed  institutions  in  the  United  States.  The  secret 
of  its  success  lies  in  the  occupation  of  every  inmate  who 
is  physically  capable  of  labor  in  any  degree. 

The  methods  used  at  Gardner  and  Yankton  and  the 
State  Farm  at  Bridgewater  are  typical  of  the  modern 
practice  in  hospitals  for  the  insane  in  every  state  in  the 
Union.  From  Maine  to  Washington  and  from  Minne- 
sota to  Texas,  insane  people  will  be  found  in  hospitals 
usefully  employed,  and  not  only  made  happier  but  their 
chance  of  recovery  much  increased  by  the  fact. 

The  same  is  true  in  the  state  institutions  for  epileptics 
and  for  the  feeble-minded.  In  these  the  assumption 
with  regard  to  every  inmate  is  on  the  side  of  employ- 
ment. If  he  or  she  is  not  busy  during  the  working 
hours  of  the  day,  the  fact  of  idleness  must  be  accounted 
for.  In  the  best  institutions  all  the  help  employed  are 
in  the  capacity  of  foremen  or  forewomen;  the  inmates 
are  the  workers. 

In  urging  a  similar  policy  upon  the  managers  of  alms- 
houses, especially  with  respect  to  the  defective  inmates, 
the  writer  is  speaking  out  of  common  knowledge  and  his 
own  practical  experience.  The  common  objection  of 
employes  when  urged  to  instruct  and  induce  the  inmates 
to  work,  that  "it  is  easier  and  quicker  to  do  it  myself 
than  to  get  them  to  do  it,"  is  based  on  fallacy.  It  is 
easier  the  first  time  and  perhaps  the  third  and  the  fifth. 
But  with  kindness,  firmness  and  tact,  it  can  be  done 
and,  when  done,  the  most  doubting  employe  will  be 
glad  to  continue  it. 

220 


APPENDIX  XII 

THE  MAN  WHO  NEVER  BATHED 
(An  actual  occurrence) 

On  visiting  the  almshouse  in  H County,  which 

had  been  very  badly  managed  for  years,  the  inspector 
found  a  new  superintendent  who  had  already  made 
many  improvements  and  was  eager  for  good  advice. 
He  asked  the  inspector  for  authoritative  rules  as  to 
bathing,  and  was  told  that  a  full  bath  for  every  man 
once  a  week  was  the  minimum. 

A  year  later  the  same  inspector  made  another  visit 
and  was  met  by  the  superintendent  with  the  following 
story :  He  said,  "  You  remember  what  you  told  me  about 
bathing  these  men;  well,  we  did  it,  but  we  killed  one 
man.  He  was  a  great  fat  tramp,  looked  as  big  as  you 
are.  [The  inspector  weighed  240  pounds.]  1  told  him 
he  must  take  a  bath  and  he  replied  that  he  would  not 
do  it;  that  he  had  never  had  a  bath  since  he  went  in 
swimming  in  the  creek  when  he  was  a  boy.  *  But,'  I 
told  him,  '  the  state  inspector  said  I  must  make  the  men 
bathe  and  I  am  going  to  do  it.'  So  the  hired  man  and  I 
stripped  him.  He  had  on  two  pairs  of  pants,  and  a 
pair  of  overalls,  three  shirts,  two  vests  and  a  wamuss 
(a  sleeved  vest)  and  between  them  all  he  had  old  news- 
papers and  chaff  that  filled  a  bushel  basket.  When 
we  got  him  stripped  we  found  he  was  not  as  big  as  I 
am.    [The  superintendent  weighed  about  125  pounds.] 

221 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

His  clothes  were  all  alive  and  we  burnt  them  up  under 
the  furnace.  Oh,  but  he  was  dirty;  but  we  scrubbed 
him  well  in  lots  of  hot  water  and  soap.  Then  I  was 
afraid  he  might  take  cold  and  1  gave  him  a  suit  of  heavy 
flannels  that  1  had  bought  for  a  consumptive  patient, 
who  died  before  he  had  worn  them,  and  the  heaviest 
suit  of  clothes  1  had  in  the  house.  Then  I  gave  him  an 
old  overcoat  of  my  own.  But  he  couldn't  seem  to  get 
warm;  he  just  shivered  and  shook;  so  we  put  him  to 
bed  and  sent  for  the  doctor,  who  said  he  had  pneumonia, 
and  he  died  in  three  days." 

The  inspector  thereafter  was  cautious  in  giving  ad- 
vice about  bathing,  usually  qualifying  it  with  the 
recommendation  that  in  extreme  cases  it  is  always 
well  to  make  improvements  gradually. 


222 


APPENDIX  XIII 
COMPETITIVE  PURCHASE  OF  SUPPLIES 

From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Indiana  Board  of  State  Chari- 
ties, igog 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  an  actual  requisition  for 
the  supplies  for  three  months  of  a  small  almshouse, 
made  in  compliance  with  the  Indiana  Law: 

Connersville,  Ind.,  March  i,  1904 
To  the  Honorable  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Fayette  County, 
Indiana: 
Gentlemen: — I  submit  herewith  an  estimate  of  supplies 
which  will  be  required  for  the  subsistence  of  the  inmates  and 
the  maintenance  of  the  County  Asylum  for  the  ensuing  three 
months,  beginning  the  first  day  of  April,  1904,  and  ending  the 
last  day  of  June,  1904. 

Respectfully  submitted, 
(Signed)    J.  M.  Sanders,  Superintendent. 

Names  of  Articles  Needed.  Quantity  Needed. 

Class  "A."     Dry  Goods. 

Calico,  "American" 100  yards. 

Brown  crash,  "Stevens" 50  yards. 

Apron  gingham,  "Lancaster".  ...   50  yards. 

Bleached  muslin,  "Hope" 50  yards. 

Cotton  blankets,  \yi  wide i  dozen  pairs. 

Window  shades,  linen,  7  feet }4  dozen. 

Window  shades,  linen,  48  in.  wide 

X  7>^  feet  long 8. 

223 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

Names  of  Articles  Needed.  Quantity  Needed. 

Bed  spreads,  "White  Thorn".  .  .  .  yi  dozen. 

Linoleum,  8/4  wide 17  yards. 

Mosquito  bar 4  bolts. 

Thread,  "O.  N.  T." 6  dozen  spools. 

Silkoline,  i  yard  wide 10  yards. 

Large  sized  Turkish  bath  towels.  .  yi  dozen. 

Large  sized  linen  toilet  towels.  .  . .  Yz  dozen. 

Carpet  chain,  white 10  pounds. 

Carpet  chain,  colored 15  pounds. 

White  Swiss  curtains,  40  in.  wide  x 

144  in.  long 4  pairs. 

Nottingham    lace    curtains,    good 

quality 4  pairs. 

Class  "B."    Groceries. 

H.  &  E.  fine  granulated  sugar.  .  .  .400  pounds. 

Best  "Rio"  coffee,  roasted 100  pounds. 

No.  2  "Young  Hyson"  tea 10  pounds. 

Best  quality  La.  rice 50  pounds. 

Babbitt's  soap 4  boxes. 

Ivory  soap 25  bars. 

Red  Seal  lye . i  case. 

Royal  baking  powder 4  pounds. 

Ground  pepper,  best  shot 5  pounds. 

Good  lump  starch 50  pounds. 

Yeast  Foam " 3^  box. 

American  ball  blue ^  gross. 

Best  quality  brooms,  No.  2 %  dozen. 

Best  quality  brooms.  No.  3 14  dozen. 

Palmetto  scrubbing  brushes lA  dozen. 

Fine  twist  cotton  mops,  2  oz 14.  dozen. 

Perfection  coal  oil 100  gallons. 

Soda,  "Arm  and  Hammer" 5  pounds. 

Three-hooped  wooden  buckets  .  .  .  %  dozen. 
Pearl,  "McBeth"  lamp  chimneys. 

No.  I I  dozen. 

224 


APPENDIX    XIII 

Names  of  Articles  Needed.  Quantity  Needed. 
Pearl,  "McBeth"  lamp  chimneys, 

No.  2 I  dozen. 

Morgan  sapolio i  dozen  bars. 

Worcester  salt 25  pounds. 

H.  P;  navy  beans 3  bushels. 

Mother's  Oats i  case. 

N.  Y.  cream  cheese 5  pounds. 

Ground  cinnamon i  pound. 

Ground  cloves i  pound. 

Ground  allspice i  pound. 

Ginger i  pound. 

Elastic  starch J/2  dozen  boxes. 

Moss  Rose  syrup >^  bbl.  or  30  gallons. 

Michigan  butter  crackers i  barrel. 

Mekin  ware  dishes,  100  pieces. ...  i  set. 

Good  prunes 25  pounds. 

Good  dried  peaches 25  pounds. 

Honey-Drip  canned  corn i  case. 

Canned  tomatoes i  case. 

Early  Ohio  seed  potatoes 10  bushels. 

Class  "C."     Drugs. 

Carbolic  acid 2  gallons. 

Camphor i  quart. 

Turpentine i  quart. 

Sulphur 5  pounds. 

Copperas 5  pounds. 

Rochelle  salts 2  pounds: 

Castor  oil i  quart. 

Chloride  of  lime 5  pounds. 

Arnica i  quart. 

Ammonia i  quart. 

Jamaica  ginger i  pound. 

Glycerine i  quart. 

Borax i  pound. 

Alcohol I  quart. 

15  225 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

Names  of  Articles  Needed.  Quantity  Needed. 

Neat  foot  oil i  gallon. 

Quinine i  ounce. 

Paregoric i  quart. 

Tangle-foot  fly  paper i  case. 

Good  quality  white-wash  brushes .  >^  dozen.   " 

Mixed  paints i  gallon. 

Class  "D."     Men's  Clothing. 

Heavy  cotton  socks 2  dozen  pairs. 

Suspenders J/2  dozen  pairs. 

Bandanna  handkerchiefs i  dozen. 

Working  shirts,  heavy  grade 2  dozen. 

Men's  all  wool  suits 4. 

Men's  working  jackets >^  dozen. 

Straw  hats i  dozen. 

Light  weight  underwear ^2  dozen  suits. 

Men's  overalls ^2  dozen  pairs. 

Men's  cotton  pants }4  dozen  pairs. 

Class  "E."    Shoes. 

Men's  heavy  shoes,  good  quality  .  10  pairs. 

Women's  medium  weight  shoes. .  .  12  pairs. 

Old  ladies'  shoes K  dozen  pairs. 

Class  "F."     Meats. 

Good  fresh  beef 300  pounds. 

Class  "G."    Tobacco. 

Star  plug 24  pounds. 

Scrap  smoking 15  pounds. 

Notice  to  bidders.  Blank  forms  for  bids  may  be  obtained  on  re- 
quest from  the  county  auditor  at  the  court  house.  All  goods  are 
purchased  subject  to  the  inspection  and  approval  of  the  superinten- 
dent. Goods  are  to  be  delivered  at  the  county  asylum  or  in  Conners- 
ville  at  the  option  of  the  superintendent.  The  commissioners  reserve 
the  right  to  reject  any  or  all  bids. 

226 


APPENDIX  XIV 
WORK  HOUSE  NURSING 

From  the  Introduction  to  Una  and  her  Paupers,  by  Florence 
Nightingale 

A  very  touching  and  beautiful  story  illustrating  the 
need  of  proper  nursing  in  a  large  city  almshouse  and 
showing  the  results  that  may  be  attained,  is  told  in 
Una  and  her  Paupers,*  a  memoir  of  Agnes  Elizabeth 
Jones,  by  her  sister.  The  introduction  was  written  by 
Florence  Nightingale,  who  gave  her  the  fanciful  name 
of  "  Una,"  because  her  paupers  were  more  untameable 
than  lions. 

Miss  Nightingale  says  of  her:  "In  less  than  three 
years  she  had  reduced  one  of  the  most  disorderly  hos- 
pital populations  in  the  world  to  something  like  dis- 
cipline such  as  the  police  themselves  wondered  at. 
She  had  led  so  as  to  be  of  one  mind  and  heart  with  her, 
upwards  of  fifty  nurses  and  probationers;  of  whom  the 
faithful  few  whom  she  took  with  her  of  our  trained 
nurses,  were  but  a  seed.  She  had  converted  a  vestry 
(the  parish  officials,  so-called  from  the  vestry  of  a  church) 
to  the  conviction  of  the  economy  as  well  as  the  humanity 
of  nursing  pauper  sick  by  trained  nurses, — the  first 
instance  of  its  kind  in  England;  for  vestries,  of  whom 
she  had  the  most  enlightened,  the  most  liberal  body 

*  Una  and  her  Paupers.  With  an  introduction  by  Florence  Night- 
ingale and  an  introductory  preface  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Rout- 
ledge,  New  York,  1872. 

227 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

of  men  in  England  to  support  her,  must  look  after  the 
pockets  of  their  ratepayers,  as  well  as  the  benefit  of 
their  sick.  But,  indeed,  the  superstition  seems  now  to 
be  exploding,  that  to  neglect  such  paupers  is  the  way  to 
keep  down  pauperism.  She  had  converted  the  Poor 
Law  Board — a  body,  perhaps,  not  usually  given  to  much 
enthusiasm  about  Unas  and  paupers — to  these  views; 
two  of  whom  bore  witness  to  the  effect.'' 

Agnes  Jones'  work  was  the  beginning  of  a  method  of 
care  for  the  sick  poor  which  has  spread  widely  and  bids 
fair  some  day  to  spread  to  every  almshouse  in  the  land. 


228 


APPENDIX  XV 

ONE  MEANS  OF  PREVENTING  PAUPERISM 

Extract  from  a  paper  read  by  Mrs.  Charles  Russell  Lowell  at 
the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  iSyg* 

*****  One  of  the  most  important  and  most 
dangerous  causes  of  the  increase  of  crime,  pauperism, 
and  insanity,  is  the  unrestrained  hberty  allowed  to 
vagrant  and  degraded  women.  The  following  are  the 
records  of  a  few  only  of  the  women  found  in  the  various 
poorhouses, — women  who  from  early  girlhood  have 
been  tossed  from  poorhouse  to  jail,  and  from  jail  to 
poorhouse,  until  the  last  trace  of  womanhood  in  them 
has  been  destroyed : 

In  the  Albany  County  poorhouse,  a  single  woman, 
forty  years  old,  of  foreign  birth,  and  nine  years  in  the 
United  States,  the  mother  of  seven  illegitimate  children; 
the  woman  degraded  and  abased,  and  soon  again  to 
become  a  mother. 

In  the  Chautauqua  County  poorhouse,  a  woman, 
fifty-five  years  old,  admitted  when  twenty-two  as  a 
vagrant;  said  to  have  been  married,  but  the  where- 
abouts of  her  husband  is  unknown;  has  been  discharged 
from  the  house,  and  returned  repeatedly,  for  the  past 
thirty-three  years,  during  which  time  she  has  had  six 
illegitimate  children. 

In  the  Cortland  County  poorhouse,  an  unmarried 
woman,  twenty-seven  years  old,  with  her  infant  child; 
has  been  the  mother  of  four  illegitimate  children,  and 
four  of  her  sisters  have  also  had  illegitimate  children. 

*  Proceedings  of  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
1879,  p.  189. 

229 


THE   ALMSHOUSE 

The  woman  fairly  intelligent  and  educated,  but 
thoroughly  debased  and  vagrant. 

I>n  the  Essex  County  poorhouse,  a  black  woman, 
widowed,  aged  forty-nine  years,  and  her  daughter, 
single,  aged  twenty-four  years,  and  her  grandson,  a 
mulatto,  four  years  old,  illegitimate,  and  born  in  the 
house.  The  first  has  been  the  mother  of  ten  children, 
seven  illegitimate;  the  second  has  had  three  illegitimate 
children.  Both  women  are  intemperate  and  thoroughly 
depraved,  and  quite  certain  to  remain  public  burdens, 
each  having  already  been  nineteen  years  in  the  house. 
A  widowed  woman,  twenty-four  years  old,  and  two 
children  aged  respectively  four  and  five  years,  both 
illegitimate  and  feeble-minded  and  born  in  the  poor- 
house,  the  latter  being  a  mulatto.  The  woman  was 
sent  to  the  house  when  six  years  old,  was  afterwards 
placed  out  but  soon  returned,  and  has  spent  most  of  her 
time  in  this  and  other  poorhouses;  has  also  had  three 
brothers  and  one  sister  who  were  paupers,  and  is  soon 
again  to  become  a  mother;  is  thoroughly  debased,  and 
will  probably  remain,  with  her  children,  a  burden 
through  life. 

In  the  Green  County  poorhouse,  a  vagrant  unmarried 
woman,  forty  years  old,  and  first  an  inmate  when 
twenty-one  years  of  age;  goes  out  from  time  to  time, 
but  soon  returns,  and  will  doubtless  continue  a  public 
burden  through  life;  has  five  illegitimate  children.  An 
unmarried  girl,  eighteen  years  of  age,  having  two 
illegitimate  children,  the  youngest  of  whom,  an  infant, 
was  born  in  the  house;  was  early  orphaned,  and  entered 
the  poorhouse  when  only  seven  years  of  age;  her 
mother  a  pauper,  and  she  has  had  one  brother  and  two 
sisters  also  paupers.  Is  thoroughly  debased  and  offers 
but  little  hope  of  reformation. 

In  the  Genesee  County  poorhouse,  a  single  woman, 
aged  twenty-six  years,  admitted  when  eighteen  years 
old;  has  three  illegitimate  children  with  her,  aged 
respectively  seven  years,  three  years,  and  eight  months, 
all  of  whom  were  born  in  the  house;  and  also  another 
child,  bound  out;  was  orphaned  in  early  life,  and  being 

230 


APPENDIX   XV 

neglected,  soon  became  vagrant  and  idle,  and  will 
probably  continue  to  be  a  public  burden. 

In  the  Herkimer  County  poorhouse,  a  single  woman 
aged  sixty-four  years,  twenty  of  which  have  been  spent 
in  the  poorhouse;  has  had  six  illegitimate  children, 
four  of  whom  have  been  paupers. 

In  the  Montgomery  County  poorhouse,  a  woman 
twenty  years  old,  illegitimate,  uneducated,  and  va- 
grant; has  two  children  in  the  house,  aged  respectively 
three  years  and  six  months,  both  illegitimate,  and  the 
latter  born  in  the  institution,  recently  married  an 
intemperate,  crippled  man,  formerly  a  pauper,  and  the 
county  will  doubtless  be  further  burdened  with  addi- 
tional progeny. 

In  the  Oswego  County  poorhouse,  an  unmarried 
woman,  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  born  in  the  poor- 
house of  a  neighboring  county;  has  had  five  illegitimate 
children,  one  of  whom  only  is  living;  the  father,  mother, 
and  five  sisters  have  been  paupers;  is  ignorant,  shift- 
less, and  vagrant,  and  gives  no  hope  of  reformation. 

In  the  Otsego  County  poorhouse,  a  widowed  woman 
aged  thirty-five  years,  three  times  married  (first  when 
only  thirteen),  a  vagrant,  and  has  spent  twelve  years 
in  poorhouses;  has  seven  living  children,  three  of  whom 
have  been  paupers,  and  she  seems  likely  to  burden  the 
public  with  additional  progeny. 

In  the  Ontario  County  poorhouse,  a  married  woman 
twenty-six  years  of  age,  frequently  in  jail  for  intoxica- 
tion, two  years  an  inmate,  with  a  male  child  three  years 
old  and  an  infant  girl  aged  two  months;  led  a  vagrant 
life  in  childhood,  the  father,  mother,  and  four  sisters 
being  paupers;  is  debased  and  thoroughly  degraded  by 
sensual  and  immoral  practices  and  gives  but  little  hope 
of  reformation;  the  husband  said  to  be  able,  but  de- 
clines to  provide  for  her  support.  A  girl  eighteen  years 
of  age,  unmarried,  and  only  three  months  in  the  house; 
is  well  connected,  prepossessing  in  appearance,  but 
shameless  in  conduct;  was  early  orphaned  and  has  led 
a  roving,  vagrant  life;  is  soon  to  become  a  mother  and 
offers  no  hope  of  reformation. 

231 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

In  the  Orange  County  poorhouse,  a  woman,  widowed, 
eighty  years  old,  educated  and  temperate,  admitted 
twenty  years  ago,  with  her  husband,  since  deceased, 
and  three  female  children,  two  of  whom  are  dead;  her 
daughter,  forty-four  years  old,  ignorant  and  depraved, 
married  at  nineteen,  now  widowed ;  the  latter  had  three 
children  by  her  husband,  one  only  being  living,  and  sub- 
sequently four  illegitimate  children,  all  of  whom  are 
dead ;  two  of  her  granddaughters,  one  twenty-four  and 
the  other  thirteen  years  of  age,  the  former  single, 
uneducated,  ignorant,  and  debased,  and  the  latter  an 
idiot;  and  her  great  granddaughter,  three  years  old, 
illegitimate,  also  an  idiot,  and  blind. 

In  the  Oyster  Bay  and  North  Hempstead  town  poor- 
house,  a  man  seventy-two  years  of  age,  and  his  second 
wife,  forty-nine  years  old,  the  former  an  inmate  sixteen, 
and  the  latter  twenty-eight  years;  the  woman  has 
borne  four  illegitimate  children,  one  of  whom,  an  idiot 
girl  fifteen  years  old,  is  now  in  the  house;  the  man  and 
woman  both  ignorant,  shiftless,  and  depraved,  and 
classed  as  permanent  burdens. 

In  the  Rockland  County  poorhouse,  an  unmarried 
woman,  aged  forty-two  years,  eleven  years  an  inmate; 
has  had  four  illegitimate  children,  two  of  whom  are  dead, 
and  two  provided  for  in  families;  is  educated,  but 
intemperate  and  vagrant  and  gives  no  promise  of  refor- 
mation. A  single  woman,  nineteen  years  of  age,  first 
admitted  to  the  poorhouse  when  twelve  years  old,  and 
for  some  time  past  has  led  a  vagrant,  tramping  life; 
is  ignorant,  shiftless,  and  degraded,  and  looked  upon  as 
incorrigible. 

In  the  Rensellaer  County  poorhouse,  a  married 
woman  thirty-one  years  of  age,  separated  from  her 
husband  nearly  twelve  years,  since  which  time  she  has 
borne  three  illegitimate  children,  one  of  whom  is  dead, 
and  two  are  now  with  her,  the  youngest  being  four 
months  old;  is  ignorant,  vagrant,  and  depraved,  and 
gives  little  promise  of  future  self-support. 

In  the  St.  Lawrence  County  poorhouse,  a  single 
woman,  twenty-six  years  old,  an  inmate  only  a  few 

232 


APPENDIX  XV 

months;  has  two  illegitimate  children  with  her,  the 
youngest  born  in  the  house,  and  has  also  another  ille- 
gitimate child,  provided  for  by  friends;  is  educated  and 
temperate,  but  confirmed  in  habits  of  vagrancy,  and 
likely  hereafter  to  burden  the  public. 

In  the  Suffolk  County  poorhouse,  an  ignorant, 
intemperate,  unmarried  woman  aged  sixty-one  years, 
eighteen  of  which  have  been  passed  in  poorhouses, 
giving  birth  during  the  time  to  three  children — one 
being  a  pauper,  and  two  self-supporting. 

In  the  Westchester  County  poorhouse,  an  ignorant, 
vagrant,  unmarried  colored  woman,  thirty-two  years 
of  age,  an  inmate  six  years,  having  two  illegitimate 
children  provided  for  in  families,  and  two  (twins)  one 
year  old,  with  her,  born  in  the  institution. 


These  women  and  their  children,  and  hundreds  more 
like  them,  costing  the  hard-working  inhabitants  of  the 
state  annually  thousands  of  dollars  for  their  mainte- 
nance, corrupting  those  who  are  thrown  into  companion- 
ship with  them,  and  sowing  disease  and  death  among 
the  people,  are  the  direct  outcome  of  our  system.  The 
community  itself  is  responsible  for  the  existence  of  such 
miserable,  wrecked  specimens  of  humanity.  These 
mothers  are  women  who  began  life  as  their  own  chil- 
dren have  begun  it, — inheriting  strong  passions  and 
weak  wills,  born  and  bred  in  a  poorhouse,  taught  to  be 
wicked  before  they  could  speak  plain,  all  the  strong  evil 
in  their  nature  strengthened  by  their  surroundings  and 
the  weak  good  crushed  and  trampled  out  of  life.  *  *  *  * 

To  begin  at  the  beginning,  what  right  had  we  to 
permit  them  to  be  born  of  parents  who  were  depraved 
in  body  and  mind?  What  right  have  we  today  to 
allow  men  and  women  who  are  diseased  and  vicious 
to  reproduce  their  kind,  and  bring  into  the  world  beings 
whose  existence  must  be  one  long  misery  to  themselves 

233 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

and  others?  We  do  not  hesitate  to  cut  oflf,  where  it 
is  possible,  the  entail  of  insanity  by  incarcerating  for 
life  the  incurably  insane;  why  should  we  not  also  pre- 
vent the  transmission  of  moral  insanity,  as  fatal  as 
that  of  the  mind?  ***** 

Leaving,  however,  all  consideration  of  duty,  and 
looking  only  at  the  right  of  society;  the  community, 
which  has  to  bear  all  the  burden  of  the  support  of  these 
maimed  and  crippled  bodies  and  souls,  has  certainly 
a  right  to  protect  itself,  so  far  as  may  be,  against  the 
indefinite  increase  of  the  weight  of  this  burden.  In 
self-defense,  the  working  part  of  mankind  may  say  to 
those  whom  they  support  by  their  work,  "  You  your- 
selves we  are  prepared  to  save  from  starvation  by  the 
hard  toil  of  our  hands  and  brains,  but  you  shall  not  add 
a  single  person  besides  yourselves  to  the  weight  we  have 
to  carry.  You  shall  not  entail  upon  us  and  our  chil- 
dren the  further  duty  of  keeping  your  children  alive 
in  idleness  and  sin."  ****** 

To  rescue  these  unfortunate  beings  and  to  save  the 
industrious  part  of  the  community  from  the  burden  of 
their  support,  "Reformatories"  should  be  established, 
to  which  all  women  under  thirty,  when  arrested  for 
misdemeanors,  or  upon  the  birth  of  a  second  illegiti- 
mate child,  should  be  committed  for  very  long  periods 
(not  as  a  punishment,  but  for  the  same  reason  that  the 
insane  are  sent  to  an  asylum),  and  where  they  should  be 
subject  to  such  a  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual 
training  as  would  re-create  them.  Such  training 
would  be  no  child's  play,  since  the  very  character  of  the 
women  must  be  changed,  and  every  good  and  healthy 
influence  would  be  rendered  useless  without  the  one 
element  of  time.  It  is  education  in  every  sense  which 
they  need,  and  education  is  a  long  process,  tedious  and 

234 


APPENDIX  XV 

wearing,  requiring  unfaltering  hope  and  unfailing 
patience  on  the  part  of  teacher  and  pupil.  Conse- 
quently these  reformatories  must  not  be  prisons,  which 
would  crush  out  the  life  of  those  unfortunate  enough  to 
be  cast  into  them;  they  must  be  homes, — homes  where 
a  tender  care  shall  surround  the  weak  and  fallen 
creatures  who  are  placed  under  their  shelter,  where  a 
homelike  feeling  may  be  engendered,  and  where,  if 
necessary,  they  may  spend  years.  The  unhappy 
beings  we  are  speaking  of  need,  first  of  all,  to  be  taught 
to  be  women;  they  must  be  induced  to  love  that  which 
is  good  and  pure,  and  to  wish  to  resemble  it;  they  must 
learn  all  household  duties;  they  must  learn  to  enjoy 
work';  they  must  have  a  future  to  look  forward  to;  and 
they  must  be  cured,  both  body  and  soul,  before  they  can 
be  safely  trusted  to  face  the  world  again.     *    *     * 


235 


APPENDIX  XVI 

INSTANCES  OF   IMPROPER  TREATMENT  OF 

THE  INSANE  IN  ALMSHOUSES 

Ill-treatment  of  the  insane  usually  comes  of  ignorance 
and  cowardice.  It  is  seldom  the  result  of  intentional 
or  deliberate  cruelty.  The  following  instances  are 
authentic  although,  for  obvious  reasons,  names  and 
places  are  not  given. 

Here  are  four  instances  from  one  state  which  are 
given  not  as  examples  of  what  usually  occurs,  but  as 
instances  of  a  kind  that  are  by  no  means  uncommon.* 

"  I  found  one  superintendent  who  declared  that  he 
found  the  horse-whip  to  be  the  most  efficacious  means 
of  quieting  insane  inmates.''  "  I  found  an  insane  wo- 
man who  had  been  kept  strapped  to  a  bed  for  over  six 
years.*'  "An  insane  man  was  found  who  had  been 
kept  in  a  stockade,  open  to  the  sky,  winter  and  summer, 
with  hardly  a  shred  of  clothing  on  him  for  seven  years." 
"Another  insane  man  was  found  chained  to  a  stump  in 
the  poorhouse  yard." 

The  same  reporter  goes  on  to  say:  "In  a  majority 
of  the  M almshouses  there  are  cells  for  the  con- 
finement of  the  insane;  in  many  cases  manacles  and 
chains  are  put  on  the  insane,  under  which  restraint 
they  are  kept  for  years;  and  they  are  all,  if  not  brutally 
treated,  at  least  grossly  neglected." 

*See  Proceedings  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
1903,  page  386. 

236 


APPENDIX    XVI 

What  is  said  here  might  probably  be  said  with  truth 
in  many  other  states.  Any  number  of  instances  might 
be  quoted  to  the  same  effect.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  only  a  few  years  ago,  the  insane  everywhere  were 
treated  in  just  such  a  manner;  the  present  humane 
and  reasonable  method  is  a  modern  development. 

But  the  people  who  use  whips,  chains,  and  cells, 
will  excuse  themselves  by  saying  that  the  insane  cases 
in  their  care  are  violent  and  must  be  kept  from  hurting 
themselves  and  others.  This  contention  is  usually 
fallacious.     Here  are  a  few  instances.     An  inspector 

of  the  state  board  found  in  T County  almshouse 

twelve  insane  men,  each  locked  in  an  iron  cell  with  a 
grated  door;  three  of  them  were  stark  naked,  destroying 
clothes  if  they  were  dressed.  The  state  hospitals  were 
overcrowded.  The  county  commissioners  were  rea- 
soned with.  They  built  a  special  insane  ward  with  a 
large  airing  court  containing  grass  and  trees,  a  com- 
fortable day  room  with  a  wide  porch,  and  hired  a 
competent  attendant.  The  inspector  went  again  a 
year  or  so  later  and  saw  nearly  all  of  the  same  men 
(one  or  two  had  died)  enjoying  the  porch  on  a  fine  sum- 
mer afternoon,  all  clothed  and  quiet,  one  of  the  men 
formerly  seen  naked  was  playing  on  a  mouth  organ, 
another  man  was  dancing  a  jig  to  the  music.  Not 
very  good  music  nor  artistic  dancing,  but  it  looked  very 
good  to  that  inspector. 

In  M County  almshouse  we  found  a  man  in  a 

small  wooden  cage — in  which  he  could  just  stand  up- 
right. He  had  been  in  there  without  a  bath  or  a  change 
of  clothing  for  more  than  three  years.  His  hair  and 
beard  were  one  huge  mat,  his  nails  like  birds'  claws. 
He  was  supposed  to  be  "dangerous.''  Three  months 
later  the  inspector  saw  the  same  man  in  the  state 

237 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

hospital  to  which  he  had  been  removed.  He  was  sitting 
on  a  cobbler's  bench,  mending  shoes  for  his  fellow 
patients,  a  quiet,  harmless,  cleanly,  useful  inmate  of  the 
hospital. 

In    J County    almshouse,    Jesse     O n, 

insane,  lived  on  straw  in  a  cell,  without  clothing, 
covered  with  an  old  quilt.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
state  hospital,  and  carried  there  in  a  crate.  In  the 
hospital  he  was  a  quiet,  harmless  patient,  giving  no 
trouble. 

In  P County  jail  an  insane  negro  occupied  two 

cells  week  about.  Every  Saturday  morning  the  jailer 
opened  the  cell  door  and  as  the  man  rushed  out,  knocked 
him  down  with  a  club  and  dragged  him  into  the  other 
cell,  then  cleaned  out  the  one  he  had  left,  with  a  hose. 
The  inspector  who  found  him  there  took  up  the  case 
with  the  state  hospital  and  saw  him  a  few  months  later, 
a  quiet,  harmless  inmate  of  the  epileptic  ward,  only 
slightly  disturbed  at  the  time  of  the  seizures.  But 
there  was  not  a  half  inch  square  of  his  scalp  without  a 
scar  from  a  wound  that  jailer's  club  had  made! 

The  above  cases  were  all  permanently  insane.  The 
hospital  treatment  had  not  cured  them.  The  difference 
in  their  apparent  condition  was  merely  due  to  a  change 
from  treatment  that  dates  from  the  eighteenth  century 
to  treatment  of  the  present  day. 

After  a  little  experience  an  inspector  of  the  insane, 
in  fit  and  in  unfit  places,  begins  to  believe  with  such 
alienists  as  the  late  Gundry  of  Ohio  and  then  of  Mary- 
land, as  Smith  of  Indiana,  as  Ferris  of  New  York,  as 
Searcy  of  Alabama,  as  Drewry  of  Virginia  and  many 
more,  rightly  honored  in  many  states,  that  the  way  to 
care  for  the  insane  is  never  by  violent  methods.  And 
this  is  true  in  almshouses  as  well  as  in  state  hospitals.    . 

238 


APPENDIX  XVII 
PLANS  OF  MODEL  INSTITUTIONS 

THE  HOME  FOR  THE  AGED  AND  INFIRM.  DISTRICT 
OF  COLUMBIA* 

Until  the  year  1906,  the  institution  known  as  the 
Washington  Asylum  comprised  almshouse,  workhouse, 
and  hospital  in  one.  In  that  year  the  Home,  of  which 
the  floor  plans  and  a  picture  are  shown,  was  equipped 
and  opened. 

The  board  of  charities  for  the  district  say  of  it  in 
their  report  for  1906,  as  follows: 

The  board  is  able  to  report  that  the  Home  for  the 
Aged  and  Infirm  at  Blue  Plains  is  now  occupied.  The 
inmates  were  moved  from  the  old  institution  at  Wash- 
ington Asylum  in  the  month  of  October. 

The  buildings  at  this  institution  are  well  planned 
and  admirably  adapted  for  their  purpose.  The  plans 
have  been  examined  and  favorably  commented  upon 
by  numerous  persons  interested  in  building  institutions 
of  a  similar  character  in  other  communities.  As  so 
much  interest  has  been  manifested  in  these  plans  we 
have  deemed  it  proper  to  have  them  partially  repro- 
duced and  published  with  this  report.  We  believe  that 
the  District  of  Columbia  has  secured  a  very  large 
return  for  its  investment,  both  in  land  and  in  build- 
ings, at  Blue  Plains.  The  Home  for  Aged  and  Infirm 
is  the  cheapest  institution  erected  by  the  District  in 
recent  years  and,  while  it  is  excellently  adapted  for  the 

*  See  illustrations  facing  pages  i  and  95,  and  floor  plans  on  pages 
96  and  97. 

239 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

purpose  for  which  it  was  planned,  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  Hmits  of  the  appropriation  compelled  economy 
in  some  directions  which  were  unwise.  For  instance, 
it  was  necessary  to  use  a  tin  roof  when  it  was  extremely 
desirable  that  either  a  tile  or  a  slate  roof  should  have 
been  provided. 

The  plan  of  this  institution  is  that  of  a  group  of 
cottages,  connected  by  large  covered  passages  which 
serve  as  lounging  rooms.  There  is  ample  experience 
to  confirm  the  theory  that  covered  passages  connecting 
the  cottages  with  a  central  dining  hall  are  not  necessary 
adjuncts  of  the  cottage  plan.  One  objection  to  the 
covered  passage  is  that,  unless  it  is  built  of  fireproof 
material,  it  does  away  to  some  extent  with  the  advan- 
tage which  accrues  to  a  detached  cottage  plan  through 
the  lessening  of  fire  risk. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  that  the  lounging  rooms 
built  in  this  way  cost  less  than  if  they  were  a  part  of 
the  buildings  proper. 

The  advantages  of  the  covered  corridors  are  pointed 
out  by  the  secretary  of  the  board  of  charities  of  the 
District,  who  says: 

"  We  have  not  found  any  difficulty  in  heating  the 
lounging  rooms  and  they  have  proved  one  of  the  most 
useful  and  attractive  features  of  the  institution.  The 
question  of  heating  might  be  something  of  a  considera- 
tion in  a  more  rigorous  climate.  Still  these  lounging 
rooms  are  so  arranged  as  to  be  connecting  corridors 
between  different  departments  of  the  building,  and  it  is 
desirable  that  these  buildings  should  be  as  far  apart  as 
we  have  them.  It  would  be  necessary  therefore  to  run 
a  considerable  amount  of  piping  to  carry  the  heat  to 
these  separate  buildings  if  we  had  not  the  connecting 
corridors  and  there  would  be  some  slight  loss  of  heat  by 

240 


APPENDIX   XVII 

radiation  or  condensation  even  with  the  best  methods 
of  insulation.  There  does  not  occur  to  me  any  other 
criticism  of  the  general  plan.  There  is  some  criticism 
of  the  building  as  erected,  but  in  that  you  are  not 
interested.  The  faults  I  have  in  mind  are  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  appropriation  was  too  small  for  the  size 
of  the  building  and  some  cheap  material  was  used — as, 
for  example,  the  metal  tile  roof  instead  of  the  slate  roof, 
as  stated  above.'' 

The  capacity  of  the  institution  is  260,  of  the  hospital 
wards  24,  which  is  about  the  theoretical  proportion. 
These  hospitals  are  simply  for  the  use  of  the  inmates. 
They  are  not  used  for  the  sick  poor  of  Washington, 
for  whom  other  provision  is  made.  The  cost  of  the 
building  was  $125,000. 

This  building  has  many  of  the  features  usually  com- 
mended, and  its  plan  deserves  careful  study  by  a  govern- 
ing board  about  to  build  for  200  or  more  inmates. 

There  are,  however,  a  few  errors  of  plan  apparent. 
The  large  dining  room  seems  not  to  be  divided  either 
for  the  sexes  or  by  color,  although  the  cottages  are 
divided  on  the  color  as  well  as  the  sex  line.  There  is 
no  assembly  hall  or  chapel  shown.  Perhaps  one  of  the 
lounging  rooms  may  take  its  place. 

It  would  seem  only  reasonable  to  expect  that  the 
public  institutions  of  the  District,  being  to  a  certain 
extent  under  the  control  of  the  Federal  Government 
and  partially  supported  by  Congress,  should  serve  as 
models  for  all  the  states.  In  many  respects  this  new 
institution  is  a  model  one. 


16  241 


THE    ALMSHOUSE 

ADAMS  COUNTY  ASYLUM,  INDIANA* 
This  house  was  built  in  1901  and  cost  $35,000.  It 
is  designed  for  sixty  inmates  and  is  on  the  whole  a 
very  well  planned  building.  Among  the  excellent 
features  may  be  mentioned  the  hospital  departments 
at  the  ends  of  the  wings  on  the  ground  floor,  close  to 
toilet  and  bath  rooms  and  each  divided  into  two  rooms, 
one  of  which  is  evidently  intended  for  a  single  patient; 
the  matron's  private  hall,  running  between  the  dining 
rooms  and  giving  access  to  the  scullery  and  kitchen 
without  going  through  the  dining  room;  the  convenient 
small  bedrooms  for  old  people  on  the  ground  floor, 
accessible  to  the  dining  and  sitting  rooms;  the  detached 
laundry  building  with  the  cell  rooms  for  temporary 
seclusion,  and  other  good  points. 

The  proportion  of  bedroom  floor  space  to  dining  room 
space  is  almost  exactly  4  to  i,  which  is  theoretically 
correct.  The  day  room  floor  space  is,  theoretically, 
insufficient,  being  little  more  than  10  per  cent  greater 
than  that  of  the  dining  rooms.  If  the  house  was  full 
to  its  capacity  and  the  inmates  were  all  able-bodied 
enough  to  use  the  sitting  rooms,  they  would  be  uncom- 
fortably crowded.  The  result  would  no  doubt  be  that 
many  of  them  would  use  the  sleeping  rooms  for  day 
room  purposes. 

ORANGE  COUNTY  ASYLUM,    INDIANA! 

This  institution  was  built  in  1901  at  a  cost  of  Ji  5,650; 

at  present  the  cost  would  be  25  to  30  per  cent  higher. 

It  is  designed  for  thirty-eight  inmates,   nineteen  of 

each  sex.     For  a  small  house  this  is  a  very  good  plan, 

*  See  elevation  and  floor  plans,  pages  18,  20,  and  21. 
fSee  floor  plans,  pages  128  and  129. 
242 


APPENDIX   XVII 

although  it  lacks  some  features  that  are  desirable; 
among  these  are  special  quarters  for  old  married  people 
and  a  special  laundry  department.  If  the  full  number 
of  inmates  were  present  and  all  were  able-bodied  enough 
to  use  the  dining  rooms  and  sitting  rooms,  the  latter 
would  be  overcrowded.  Unless  the  front  is  to  the 
north  or  west,  the  infirmary  or  sick  rooms  on  this  plan 
will  not  have  sufficient  sunshine. 


THE  ALMSHOUSE  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEWTON, 
MASSACHUSETTS* 

This  almshouse  is  one  of  the  newer  institutions  of  its 
kind  in  the  state.  Its  plan  is  approved  by  the  Board  of 
State  Charities  and  is  considered  about  standard.  It 
has  many  admirable  features.  It  has  also  some  de- 
fects, chief  of  which  in  the  writer's  opinion,  is  that  of 
placing  the  kitchen  and  laundry  in  the  basement.  As 
is  frequently  the  case,  also,  the  sitting  rooms  are  much 
too  small;  in  this  plan  they  are  given  considerably  less 
floor  space  than  the  dining  rooms. 

The  accommodations  for  the  warden  are  sufficient 
and  well  arranged.  It  will  be  noticed  that  by  means  of 
a  movable  partition  the  two  dining  rooms  can  be  thrown 
together  so  as  to  make  a  chapel  or  assembly  hall  for 
all  the  inmates. 

THE  ALMSHOUSE  AT  NATICK,  MASSACHUSETTS! 

This  is  a  fairly  good  plan  for  a  small  town  almshouse. 
The  plans  were  evidently  drawn  for  the  particular 

*  See  frontispiece,  also  elevation  and  floor  plans  on  pages  30,  32, 
33,  and  34. 

t  See  illustration  facing  page  75,  and  floor  plans  on  pages  76,  77, 
and  78. 

243 


THE  ALMSHOUSE 

population  to  be  housed,  since  there  are  fourteen  bed- 
rooms for  men  and  only  six  for  women. 

Some  objection  might  be  made  to  placing  the  kitchen 
and  other  domestic  offices  in  the  basement.  Unless 
individual  wash  basins,  etc.,  are  placed  in  different 
sleeping  rooms,  the  number  of  lavatories  seems  too 
small.  There  is  no  sitting  room  for  the  inmates.  The 
bedrooms  are  all  single  and  all  the  same  size,  so  that 
there  seems  no  provision  for  aged  couples  together. 

The  rooms  for  the  warden  are  well  arranged  and 
sufficient.  The  plan  of  the  attic  floor  is  not  given,  but 
the  elevation  shows  a  gambrel  roof  in  the  center  and 
dormers  in  the  wing  attics,  so  that  there  are  probably 
rooms  for  employes'  bedrooms  on  the  attic  floor. 


244 


APPENDIX  XVIII 
SPECIMEN  RECORDS 

SPECIMEN  INDEX  CARD 
To  Use  With  the  Following  Record.     (See  pages  246  and  247.) 
{This  form  is  used  when  a  new  card  is  written  for  each  admission 
and  destroyed  on  discharge) 


Jones,  John  H.,  Marion  Tp. 


No.  III.    Adm.  Q-i-igio 
Previous  Ad. 

No.      2.    Adm.  Q-ig-iQog 


SPECIMEN  INDEX  CARD 
To  Use  With  the  Following  Record 
{This  form  is  used  when  Index  Cards  are  preserved  permanently, 
and  used  for  recurrent  admissions) 


Jones,  John  H.,  Marion  Tp. 


No.  2.  Admitted  g-ig-igog 
Disch.  4-6-igio 

No.  III.  Readmitted  g-i-igio 
Disch.  4-5-igii 


N.  B. — //  this  side  gets  full,  write  on  hack. 

SPECIMEN  OF  CARD  RECORD 

Instead  of  Book 
Washington  Co.  Almshouse,  Ohio 


Name,  Jones,  John  H. 

Township,  Marion 

Number,  iii 

Adm.  by  /.  Smith.     Age  66.     Nativ.  Ohio 

Col.  Wh.,   Conj.  cond. 

Wid.     Height  5-7. 

Wt 

155 

Col.  eyes,  gray.     Col. 

lair,  gray 

Mental  cond.     Sound  mind 

Physical  cond.     Crippled,  rheumatic 

Remarks. — Regular  fall  and  winter  residents 

,  brother  of  inmate  Sally         \ 

Brown  {wid.) 

Admissions 

Reason  of  disch. 

Discharged 

ist.  Q-iQ-igog 

Drunkenness 

4-6-1910 

Q-I-IQIO 

Insubordination 

4-5-1911 

N.  B. — Room  for  additional  remarks  on  the  back. 
245 


RECORD    OF   ADMISSIO 
WASHINGTON  COUNTY 


No. 

Date 

Surname 

Given 

Name 

Town- 
ship 

Admitting 
Officer 

Age  on 
Admis- 
sion 

Nativ- 
ity 

Sex 

Color 

Conj.  Cond. 

Ill 

igio 
Sept.  I 

Jones 

John  H. 

Marion 

J.  Smith 

66 

Ohio 

M. 

Wh. 

Wid. 

112 

Sept.  3 

Tompkins 

Henry 

Center 

P.  Wilkins 

75 

So.  Car. 

M. 

Col. 

Mar. 

"3 

Sept.  6 

Brown 

Mary 

Center 

P.  Wilkins 

,37 

Mass. 

F. 

Wh. 

Sing.        1 

114 

IIS 

Oct.  s 
Oct.  II 

Brown 
McCarthy 

Peter 
Martha 

Bom  in 
Newcastle 

Almshouse 
F.  Hench 

69 

Ireland 

M. 
F. 

Wh. 
Wh. 

&    1 

116 

Oct.  25 

Johnson 

Phoebe 

Henry 

S.  Jones 

27 

Ohio 

F. 

Wh. 

Sing. 

117 

Oct.  31 

Cartwright 

Susan 

Center 

P.  WUkins 

6 

Indiana 

F. 

Wh. 

Sing.        1 

1 

246 


NSAND  DISCHARGES 
ALMSHOUSE,  OHIO 


Personal  Description 

Physi- 
cal 
Con- 
dition 

Mental 
Condi- 
tion 

Previous 
Admission 

Remarks 

Cause  of 
Discharge 

Date  of 
Discharge 

Bt. 

Wt. 

Color 
Eyes 

Color 
Hair 

S-7 

S-i 

5 '2 
SI 
sm 

iSS 

149 
130 

130 
120 
all 

Gray 

Brown 

Blue 

Gray 
Blue 
Blue 

Gray 
Gray 

Fair 

Gray 
Auburn 
Flaxen 

Crip- 

i^u 

A.  B. 
preg- 
nant 

Pneu- 
monia 

Able 
bodied 

Able 
bodied 

Sound 
mind 
Epi- 
leptic 

Feeble 
mind 

.  Sound 
mind 

Feeble 
mind 

Bright 

Sept.,  1909 
Aug.,  1906 
f  July,  1909 
[  Sept.,1907 

Regular  fall  and  win- 
ter resident 

Father  of  Hy.  Tomp- 
kins, Jr.,  epi. 

Came  for  confinement, 
as  usual 

Child  of  above 

No  relatives  known  in 
Co.  buried  here 

Sent  to  State  Inst,  for 
F.  M.  Women 

Placed  with  Mrs. 
Smith,  Maple  Farm, 
Newcastle  Township 

Volun- 
tary 

Volun- 
tary 
With 

mother 
Died 

Transfer 

Placed 

Apr.  s, 
1911 

Jan.  2, 

1911 
Jan.  2, 

1911 
Oct.  16, 

1910 
Jan.  5, 

1911 
Nov.  9, 

1910 

247 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Absence,  87 

Abuses,  where  prevalent,  8 
Accessibility,  8,  1 1 
Acetylene  gas,  43 
Adams  County  Asylum,  Indiana, 
242 
view  and  plans,  18,  20,  21 
Administration,  employes,  52-53 
governing  board,  46-48 
matron,  51-52 
superintendent,  48-50 
visitors  and  inspectors,  54- 
56 
Administration  building,  17,  22, 

23-24 
Admission,  form,  61 
methods,  60-61 
orders,  87 

unfit  persons,  61-65 
Admissions  and  discharges,   re- 
cords of,  85-87 
Aged  and  infirm,  59 
Agents  of  state  boards,  visits  of, 

56 
Air,  pure,  44-45 
Airing  bedrooms,  108 
Almshouse,  function  of,  extract 
from   a   paper  by   Mary 
Vida  Clark,  171-180 
laws  in  Indiana,  163-170 

name,  7 
plans.     See  Building  Plans. 


Amusements,  36,  136-138 
Ancker,  Dr.,  of  St.  Paul,  26 
Aspect  of  building,  22 


Balanced  ration,  102 

Basis  of  the  present  volume,  i,  2 

Basketry,  80 

Bathing,  accommodations,  81-82 

difficulty  of  enforcing,  81 

man  who  never  bathed,  221- 
222 

showers,  82-83 

system,  82 

time,  82 

tubs,  82-83 
Bathtubs,  29,  82-83 
Beans,  102 

Beauty  of  site,  12,  13 
Bedbugs,  11 4-1 15 
Bed-making,  108 
Bedroom,  airing,  108 

bedding,  106-107 

beds,  106 

blankets,  107 

closet,  107 

decoration,  108 

furniture,  106-108 

hanging  clothes,  107 

mattresses,  106 

pillows,  107 

sheets,  107 


251 


INDEX 


Bedrooms,  single,  27-28 
trunks,  107-108 
use,  108 
Beds  and  bedding,  106-107 
Bed-time,  rule  about,  70 
Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  227 
Beef,  102,  133 
Beginnings,  15 
Bicknell,  Ernest  P.,  v 

on  Feeble-mindedness  as  an 

Inheritance,  202-209 
extract    from    a    paper    on 
Advice  to  an  Almshouse 
Superintendent,  215-218 
Bids  for  supplies,  91 
Blankets,  107 
Blind,  58,  64 
Blue  Plains,  D.  C,  239 
Books,  136 
Bread  and  water,  73 
Brick  for  inside  walls,  36-37 
Bridgewater,  Mass.,  219-220 
Brinkerhoff,  General  Roeliff,  v 
British  Local  Government  Board, 

183 
British   Poor  Law  Commission, 
extract     from     Minority 
Report,  1909,  1 4 1- 1 48 
Report  of  19 10,  3 
British    Royal    Commission    on 
classification    in    almshouses, 
181-183 
British  Workhouse  System,  ori- 
gin, 149-157 
Bryan,  Wm.  J.,  137 
Building  material,   inside   brick 
walls,  36-37 
floors,  38-40 
foundations,  37 
plaster  walls,  37 


Building  material,  roofs,  37-38 
windows,  38 
wood,  36 
Building  plans,  Adams  County 
Poor    Asylum,    Indi- 
ana, 242 
view  and  plans,  18,  20, 
21 
administration  building,  17, 

22 
aspect,  22 
corridors,  22,  23 
dining  rooms,  17,  19 
divisions,  22 
dormitories,  19,  22 
essentials,  16 
fafade,  16 
floor  plan,  16 
floor  space,  16,  17,  19 
height,  17,  19 

Natick,    Mass.,  almshouse, 
243 
plans,  76-78 
Newton,  Mass.,  almshouse, 
243 
plans,  30-33 
Orange  County  Poor  Asy- 
lum, Indiana,  242-243 
plans,  128-129 
proportions  of  floor-space,  19 
simplicity,  23 

standardization  of  arrange- 
ment, 17 
stories,  number,  17,  19 
Washington,   D.  C,   Home 
for   the    Aged  and  In- 
firm, 239-241 
plans,  96-97 
Business  management,  47 
Butler,  Amos  W.,  v 


252 


INDEX 


Butler,  Amos  W.,  statistics  on  fee- 

ble-mindedness,  210-214 
Butter  and  eggs,  90 
Byers,  Albert  G.,  v 
Byers,  Joseph  P.,  v 

California,    county    hospitals, 
117,  158-159 
name  for  almshouse,  7 
number  (average)  of  inmates 

in  almshouses,  160 
State    Board   of   Charities, 
158 
Capacity,  13-15 
Card  index,  86 
Care  of  defectives,  5,  6 
Carpets,  39 
Cement  floors,  38 
Cereals,  100 
Chairs,  112 
Chapel,  35-36 

Children  in  almshouses,  58, 63,  64 
Chinese  and  outer  clothing,  1 13 
Christian  Endeavor  Society,  137 
Church  societies,  137 
Cisterns,  rain-water,  34 
Citizens,  admission  as  visitors,  54 
City  Home,  7 
Clark,  Mary  Vida,  v 

on    function  of    the   alms- 
house, 171-180 
Classification  of  inmates,  extract 
from    report    of    British 
Royal  Commission,    181- 
183 
cottages,  66,  67-68 
dining  room,  69 
English  plan,  68-69 
permanent  population,  66- 
67 


Classification    of    inmates,   sex, 

65-66 
Cleanliness,  113,  116 

personal,  83-84 
Clothing,  changing,  113 

Chinese  custom,  133 

handling,  104-105 

marking,  104 

night,  1 13-1 14 

repair,  105-106 

rooms,  104 

Sunday,  105 

tidiness,  106 

washable,  105 

winter,  105 

working,  1 13 
Coal,  90 
Codfish,  102 
Collusion,  91,  92 
Comfort  in  almshouses,  advan- 
tage of,  3 
Committee  on  almshouse,  47 
Competitive    bids   for   supplies, 

89-93 
Complaints  of  inmates,  73-74 
Condemned  property,  99 
Connecticut,  average  number  of 

inmates,  in  almshouses,  160 
Construction,  building  material, 
36-40 

building  plans,  16-23 

divisions  of  house,  22,  23-36 

heating,  40-43 

lighting,  43-44 

ventilation,  44-45.     See  also 
Building,  etc. 
Consumptives.    See  Tuberculosis. 
Contagious  diseases,  117,  119 
Contracts,  89,  90 
Control,  of  defectives,  6 

53 


INDEX 


Control,  of  inmates,  49 

Cooking,  100,  109 

Copenhagen,    Asylum    for    the 

Aged,  194-197 
Corridors,  22,  23 
Corrugated    paper   for  covering 

steam  pipes,  42 
Cottage  homes,  66,  67-68 

as  part  of   the  almshouse, 
183-193 
Cottage  system,  4,  15,  22 
Coughs,  122 
Country,  desirability  as  location 

of  almshouse,  8,  9 
County  asylum,  7 
County    care    and    state    care, 

58 
County  commissioners,  46,  47 
County  home,  7 
County  hospitals,  7,  171 
California,  158-159 
County  infirmary,  7 
Couples,  married,  28 
Criticism  from  visitors,  55 
Crops,  choice  of,  132 


Danish  Workhouse,  63 
Deaf,  58,  64 

Decatur,  Indiana,  Adams  County 
Poor  Asylum,  view  and  plans, 
18,  20,  21 
Defectives,  care,  5,  6 
control,  6 

mental,  126-127,  130 
occupations  for,  79,  80,  219- 
220 
Degeneracy,  treatment,  5 
Denims,  105 
Denmark  system,  193-197 


Dependents  and  delinquents,  62- 

63 
Depree  formaldehyde  fumigator, 

115 
Dietitian,  103 

Dining  room,  classification,  109, 
II I 

furniture,  109-1 10 

neatness,  1 1  i-i  12 

oilcloth  table  covers,  1 10 

seats,  1 10 

service,  1 1 1 

table  cloths,  1 10 

table  ware,  i  lo-iii 

tables,  109 

tin  ware,  1 1 1 
Dining  rooms,  17,  19,  24,  84 
Discharge,  72.     See  also  Admis- 
sions. 
Discipline,  72-73 
Disinfection,  1 1 5 
Disobedience  to  rules,  71 
Disorder  in  almshouses,  evil  of,  3 
Disorderly  persons,  62,  63 
District  of  Columbia,  239-241 
Divisions  of  the  house,  bedrooms, 
27-28 

chapel,  35-36 

dormitories,  27-28 

front  center,  23-24 

hall,  35-36 

hospital,  25-27 

laundry,  29,  34-35 

lavatories,  28-29 

porches,  27 

rear  center,  24-25 

toilet  rooms,  28-29 

verandahs,  27 

wings,  25 
Dormitories,  19,  22,  27-28 


254 


INDEX 


Drainage,  1 1,  12 
Drinking-water,  103-104 


Eastern  states,  names  for  alms- 
house, 7 
Electric  lighting,  43-44 
Ellwood,  Prof.  Charles,  v 
Embroidery,  80 
Employes,  subordinate,  52-53 
Employment  of  inmates,  50 

defectives,  79,  80 

extent,  75 

gardening,  75 

general,  80 

idleness,  81 

indoor  work   for  men,    75, 

79 

instruction,  80 

laundry,  75,  79 

leading  and  driving,  81 

outdoor  work  for  women,  75 

regular,  79 

self-support,  80 

simple,  79,  80 

value,  74,  75 
England,  cottages,  66,  67,  68 

poor  relief,  4 
Entertainments,  36,  136-138 
Epileptics,  63 
Epworth  League,  137 
Evil  conditions,  3 


Facade,  16 

Farm  and  garden,  beef,  133 

crops,  132 

fruits  and  vegetables,   133- 

135 

hogs,  133 


Farm  and  garden,  Indiana  Bulle- 
tin, extract  from,  133-135 

potatoes,  133 

reasons  for  leaving,  9,  10 

records,  87-88 

wheat,  132 
Farmhouses,  8 
Faucets  for  bathtubs,  29 
Feather  pillows,  danger,  107 
Feeble-minded,  59,  63,  64,   127, 

130 
Feeble-mindedness  as  an  Inherit- 
ance,    extract     from     a 
paper  by  E.  P.  Bicknell, 
202-209 

statistics  of  Amos  W.  Butler, 
210-214 
Firvale  Union  Cottage  Homes, 

69, 184-193 
Fisher,  Dr.  C.  Irving,  42 
Floor  material,  38 
Floor  plan,  16 
Floor  polishers,  39 
Floor  space,  16,  17,  19 
Floors,  135 

as  a  source  of  odor,  1 1 3 

treatment,  39 
Fly,  domestic,  11 5-1 16 
Food    supply,    balanced    ration, 
102 

beans,  102 

beef,  102 

bills  of  fare,  99 

cereals,  100 

codfish,  102 

cooking,  100 

dietitian,  103 

meat,  10 1 

oajmeal,  100 

protein,  101-102 

55 


INDEX 


F<x)d  supply,  service,  99 

sickness,  103 

soups  and  stews,   loi 

variety,  100 

vegetables,  100 
Formaldehyde,  1 1 5 
Forms  for  supply  bids,  91 
Foundation  walls,  37 
Frame  buildings,  36 
Friends  of  inmates,  54 
Front  center  of  house,  23-24 
Front  door  yard,  131 
Fruits  and  vegetables,  133-13 
Function  of  the  Almshouse, 
Mary  Vida  Clark,  1 71-180 
Furnace  heating,  41 
Furniture,  bedroom,  106-108 

cheap,  106 

dining  room,  109- 112 

kitchen,  109 

sitting  room,  1 12-1 13 


Games,  137-138 

Garbage,  1 16 

Garden,  reasons  for,  9,  10 

Garden  crops,  133 

Gardening,  75 

Gardner,  Mass.,  219,  220 

Gas  lighting,  43 

Gasoline,  43 

Gates,  Almont  W.,  v 

Gates,  W.  A.,  158 

Giles,  H.  H.,  v 

Gillespie,  Rev.  G.  D.,  v 

Glenn,  John,  v 

Governing  board,  46-48 

discipline,  73 

rules,  72 
Government,  69-70 


by 


Graphophone,  137 
Great    Britain,    legal    name    of 
institution,  7 
system  of  poor  relief,  3-5 
Groceries,  staple,  90 
Grounds,  1 31-132 
Gundry,  Dr.  Richard,  quoted  on 

almshouse  rules,  70 
Gutters,  38 


Habit,  force  of,  114 

Hair  pillows,  107 

Hall,  35-36 

Hamilton  County,  Ind.,  cottage 

homes,  67-68 
Hardwood  floors,  treatment,  39 
Heating,  hot  air,  41 

hot  water,  40-41 

open  fires,  42-43 

steam,  41-42 
Hogs,  133 
Holidays,  138 
Holland,  Mich.,  115 
Home  for  the  Aged  and  Infirm,  7, 

59 
Hospital,  25-27 

municipal,  26 
Hospital  department,  1 17-1 18 
Hot  air  heating,  41 
Hot  water  heating,  40-41 
Hudson   County,   N.   J.,   alms- 
house   and    hospital    for    the 
insane,  62 
Hungarian  goulash,  loi 


Ice,  104 

Idleness  of  inmates,  81 

Illegitimate  children,  229-233 


256 


INDEX 


Illinois,  average  number  of  in- 
mates in  almshouses,  i6i 
Imbeciles  in  the  almshouse,  201- 

214 
In  and  out  book,  85-87 
Indiana,    Adams   County    Poor 
Asylum,  view  and  plans, 
18,  20,  21 
number  (average)  of  inmates 

in  almshouses,  161 
cottage  homes  in  Hamilton 

County,  67-68 
law  governing  county  asy- 
lums   (almshouses),    and 
remarks  thereon,  163-170 
legal    name   of   almshouse, 

7 
Orange  County  Poor  Asy- 
lum, plans,  128-129 
Indiana  Bulletin,  extract  from, 

on  farm  and  garden,  133-135 
Indiana  State  Board  of  Charities, 

133 
Indoor  work  for  men,  75,  79 
Infirmaries,  118.    See  also //05- 

pital. 
Influence,  61 

Inmates,     admission     of     unfit 
persons,  61-65 
aged  and  infirm,  59 
bathing,  71,  81-83 
bed-time,  70 
births,  66 
blind,  58,  64 
bread  and  water,  73 
children,  58,  63,  64 
classes  admitted,  57-60 
classification,  65-69 
complaints,  73-74 
cottages,  66,  67-68 

17  2 


Inmates,  county  care  and  state 
care,  58 

deaf,  58,  64 

delinquents,  62-63 

dependents,  62-63 

discharge,  72 

discipline,  72-73 

disobedience,  71 

disorderly  persons,  62,  63 

employment,  50,  74-75,  79- 
81 

epileptic,  63 

feeble-minded,  59,  63,  64,  66 

friends  and  relatives,  54 

insane,  58,  63 

leaving  the  premises,  71 

methods  of  admission,  60-61 

number,  14 

number    (average)    in    ten 
states,  (Table)  160-162 

penalties,  71 

permanent  population,  66- 
67 

personal  cleanliness,  83-84 

prisoners,  62,  63 

punishment,  73 

rules,  69-72 

segregation,  58-59 

sex,  65-66 

sickness,  64-65 

smoking,  71 

social  classification,  59-60 

specialized  institutions,  58 

tobacco,  73 

vagrants,  62,  63 

work,  70 
Insane,  58,  63 

instances  of  improper  treat- 
ment, 236-238 
Insanity,  mild,  126-127,  130 

57 


INDEX 


Inside  brick  walls,  36-37 

Inside  finish,  36-37 

Inspectors,  cases  of  discipline,  73 

journal,  73 

visits  of,  56 
Institution  odor,  40,  1 13-1 14 
Institutional  life,  23 
Irish  stew,  loi 
Ironing,  34 


Jail,  62 

Jones,  Agnes  Elizabeth,  227-228 

Journal,  daily,  73,  87-88 


Kerosene  and  kerosene  lamps, 

43-44 
Kitchen,  24-25,  109 


Labor  of  inmates.     See  Employ- 
ment. 

Ladies  Musical  Society,  127 

Lamps,  44 

Land,  quality,  10,  12 

Large  almshouses,  14 
difficulties,  4 

Laundry,  29,  34-35,  75 

Lavatories,  28-29 

Law    governing    almshouses    in 
Indiana,  163-170 

Leaving  the  premises,  rule  about, 

71 
Library,  136 
Lice,  115 
Lighting,  43 
Lincoln,  Alice  N.,  v,  69 

on  the  Firvale  Union  Cot- 
tage Homes,  184-193 


Location,  best,  8-12 
Lowell,  Mrs.  Charles  Russell,  v, 
124 
on  one  means  of  preventing 
pauperism,  224-235 


Machinery,  29,  34 
Magazines,  136 

Management,  clothing  and  the 
clothing  room,  104-106 

condemned  property,  99 

drinking  water,  102-104 

food  supply,  99-109 

furniture    and    furnishings, 
106-1 13 

institution  odor,  113-114 

leakages,  94 

purchase  of  supplies,  89-93 

records,  85-88 

regular  losses,  95 

requisitions,  95 

store  room  and  store  keeper, 

93-95.  98-99 
vermin,  1 14-1 16 
Maple  flooring,  38,  39 
Marking  clothing,  104 
Married  couples,  28 
Maryland,  name  for  almshouse, 

7 
Maryland  Hospital  for  the  In- 
sane, 70 
Massachusetts.average  number  of 
inmates  in  almshouses,  161 
Natick  almshouse,243 ;  plans, 

76-78 
Newton     almshouse,     243; 

plans,  30-33 
Tewksbury  Almshouse,  42 
Maternity  cases,  123-125 


258 


INDEX 


Matron,  51-52 
Mattresses,  106 
Meat,  loi 
Meats,  90 

Medical    officer,    compensation, 
119 

contagious  cases,  1 19 

duties,  1 18 

medicine,  119-120 

quarantine,  1 19 
Medicine,  1 19 

Mental  defectives,  126-127,  130 
Metal  roofs,  38 
Methods  proposed  in  the  present 

volume,  practicability,  i,  2 
Mice,  1 16 

Middle   West,    name   for  alms- 
house, 7 
Milk,  90 
Ministers,  35,  36 

visits  of,  54 
Model  institutions,  239-243 
Monitor  roofs,  25,  29 
Monotony,  136 
Municipal  Hospital,  26 


Name  for  almshouse,  best,  7 
change,  6 
variety,  7 

Natick,  Mass.,  almshouse,  plans, 
76-78 

National  Conference  of  Charities 
and  Correction,  26,  117,  121, 
124,  158,  171,  183,  202,  210, 
215,229 

Natural  gas,  43 

New  England,  name  for  alms- 
house, 7 

New  Hampshire,  62 


New  Hampshire,  average  num- 
ber of  inmates   in   alms- 
houses, 161 
county  houses  of  correction, 
198-200 
New    Jersey,    Hudson    County 
almshouse  and  hospital  for  the 
insane,  62 
Newspapers,  126 

help  of,  93 
Newton,  Mass.,  almshouse,  plans, 

30-33 
New  York  City,  59 
New  York  State,  County  hospi- 
tals, 121 
name  for  almshouse,  7 
number  (average)  of  inmates 
in  almshouses,  161 
Night  clothes,  1 13-114 
Nightingale,  Florence,  227 
North  Carolina,  average  number 
of  inmates  in  almshouses,  162 
Nursing,  120-121 

workhouse,  227-228 


Oatmeal,  100 

Occupations,  for  defectives,  219- 
220 
for  inmates.     See   Employ- 
ment. 
Odor,  institution,  113-114 
Ohio,  legal  name  of  almshouse,  7 
Toledo     Hospital     for     the 
Insane,  23 
Oilcloth  table  covers,  1 10 
One-room  cottages,  67-68 
Open  fires,  13,  42-43 
Orange  County  Asylum,  Indiana, 
242-243 

59 


INDEX 


Orange  County  Asylum, Indiana, 

plans,  128-129 
Outdoor  work  for  women,  75 
Outdoor  relief,  when  increased, 

2,3 
Overseer  of  the  poor,  60 


Paint,  135 

Palaces  for  paupers,  23 
Pauperism,    preventing,    extract 
from  a  paper  by  Mrs.  C.R. 
Lowell,  229-235 
relation  to  wealth,  14 
Penalties,  71 
Pennsylvania,  62 

number  (average)  of  inmates 
in  almshouses,  192 
Personal  cleanliness,  83-84 
Personal  description,  85 
Pest  house,  117 
Physician,  1 18-120 
Pictures,  1 12,  113 
Pillows,  107 
Pine  flooring,  38-39 
Plans,    building.     See    Building 

Plans. 
Plans    of    almshouses,    Adams 
County  Asylum,  Indiana, 
18,  20,  21,  242 
Natick,  Mass.,  76-78,  243 
Newton,  Mass.,  31-33,  243 
Orange     County     Asylum, 

Ind.,  128-129,  242-243 
Washington,  D.  C,  96,  97, 
239-241 
Plans  for  future  growth,  14,  15 
Plastering,  135 
Plumbing,  136 
Polishers  for  floors,  39 


Poor  relief,  foundation  of  Ameri- 
can system,  4 
British,  3-5 
Poorhouse,  7 

Population  increase,  14,  15 
Porches,  27 
Potato  crop,  133 
Poverty,  almshouse  and,  5 
Press,  help  of,  93 
Press  representatives,  visits  of,  54 
Preventing    pauperism,    extract 

from  a  paper  by  Mrs.  C.  R. 

Lowell,  229-235 
Prevention  of  sickness,  1 18 
Priests,  35,  36 
Printed  forms  for  bids,  91 
Prisoners,  62,  63 
Problem  of  the  almshouse,  5 
Promiscuous  mingling,  evils  of, 

British  Poor  Law  Commission 

Minority  Report,   1909,   141- 

148 
Protein,  101-102 
Public  opinion,  55 
Public  servants,  visits  of,  54 
Publicity,  55-56 
Publicity  for  bids  for  supplies, 

92-93 
Punishment,  73 
Purchasing  supplies,  89-93 
Purpose  of  the  present  volume,  i 


Quality  of  supplies,  91-92 
Quarantine,  119 
Quarterly  contracts,  90 


Rag  carpets,  79,  80 
Rain-water,  34 


260 


INDEX 


Rats,  1 1 6 

Reading,  136 

Reading  aloud,  137 

Rear  center  of  house,  24-25 

Records,  absence,  87 

admission  orders,  87 

admissions  and   discharges, 
85-87 

assistants,  88 

card  index,  86 

cases  of  discipline,  73 

cash  transactions,  88 

daily  journal,  87-88 

evidence,  88 

farm  and  garden  operations, 
87-88 

in  and  out  book,  85 

regularity,  88 

sickness,  87 

visits,  87 
Reformatories  for  women,  234- 

235 
Reforms,  56 

Relatives  of  inmates,  54 
Religious  services,  35-36 
Repairing  clothing,  105-106 
Repairs,  135-136 
Richmond,  Va.,  name  for  alms- 
house, 7 
Rocking  chairs,  112 
Roman  Catholic  services,  35 
Roofs,  37-38,  135 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  137 
Rugs,  39 
Rules  for  inmates,  bathing,  71 

bed-time,  70 

disobedience,  71 

governing  board,  72 

leaving  the  premises,  71 

penalties,  71 

26 


Rules  for  inmates,  smoking,  71 
work,  70 


San  Diego,  Cal.,  159 

San  Francisco,  158 

Scenic  beauty,  12,  13 

Screens,  116 

Scrubbing  floors,  40 

Scullery,  24 

Self-respect,  83 

Self-support,  80 

Sex,  65-66 

Sex  separation,  16,  17 

Sheets,  107 

Short  time  contracts,  89-90 

Shower  baths,  82-83 

Sick,  the,  books  on,  121 

diet,  103 

hospital    department,    117- 
118 

infirmaries,  1 18 

maternity  cases,  123-125 

medical  officer,  1 18-120 

nursing,  120-12 1 

prevention  of  sickness,  1 18 

tuberculous  cases,  121- 123 
Sickness,  64-65,  87 

prevention,  1 18 
Simplicity  in  building  plans,  23 
Site,  choice  of,  10-13 
Sitting  rooms,  1 12-1 13 
Size,  13-15 

Smoking,  rule  about,  71 
Soap,  laundry,  34-35 
Social  classification,  59-60 
Soft  soap,  34-35 
Soil,  quality,  10,  12 
Somers,  Dr.  A.  J.,  38 
Soups  and  stews,  10 1 


INDEX 


Spanish  stew,  loi 
Specialized  institutions,  58 
Specifications,  90-91 
Spitting,  122 

State  care  and  county  care,  58 
Steam  heating,  41-42 
Steam-pipe  covering,  42 
Steam  radiators,  41-42 
Steward,  89 

Store  room  and  store  keeper, 
condemned  property  de- 
partment, 99 

construction  of  room,  98 

duties,  94-95 

leakages,  94 

locking  up,  95-96 

method,  94 

regular  deficiencies,  95 

requisitions,  95 

vegetables,  98 
Stories,  number  of,  17,  19 
Sunday  clothes,  105 
Superintendent,  advice  to,  215- 
218 

authority,  50 

character,  49 

duties,  49,  50 

method  of  choice,  48 

qualifications,  48-49 

quarters,  23-24 

responsibility,  49 

subordinates,  50 
Supplies,  purchase  of,  bids,  91 

butter  and  eggs,  90 

coal,  90 

competitive  purchase,  form 
of  requisition,  Indiana, 
223-226 

meats,  90 

milk,  90 


Supplies,    purchase    of,    printed 
forms,  91 
public  competitive  bids,  89, 

92-93 
publicity,  92-93 
quarterly  contracts,  90 
short  time  contracts,  89-90 
specifications,  90-91 
staples,  90 
yearly  contracts,  90 


Table  cloths,  1 10 

Table  ware,  no-i  1 1 

Tables  for  dining  room,  109 

Tewksbury,  Mass.,  State  Alms- 
house, 42 

Tile  floors,  38 

Tin  ware,  in 

Tobacco,  73 

Tobey,  Dr.,  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  23 

Toilet  room,  28-29 

Toledo,  Ohio,  Hospital  for  the 
Insane,  23 

Tuberculosis,  care  of  cases,  121- 
123 

Two-story  construction,  17,  19 


"  Una  and  her  Paupers,"  227-228 
Unfit  persons,  admission  of,  61- 

65 
Union  Workhouse,  7 


Vagrancy,    Pennsylvania    pen- 
alty, 62 
Vegetables,  100 
storing,  98 
Ventilation,  44-45 


262 


INDEX 


Verandahs,  27 
Vermin,  114-116 
Virginia,  average  number  of  in- 
mates in  almshouses,  162 
Visitors,  classes  of,  54-55 
Visits,  87 


Washing  machinery,  34 
Washington,  D.  C,  Home  for  the 
Aged  and  Infirm,  239-241 
floor  plans,  96,  97 
Washington  Asylum,  239 
Waste,  saving,  9 
Water  cures,  103-104 
Water  supply,  1 1 
Wealth  and  pauperism,  relation, 

14 

Wells,  1 1 
Wheat  crop,  132 


Whittling,  79 
Wilson,  George  S.,  v 
Windows,  38 
Wings  of  house,  25 
Wiping  dishes,  79 
Women,  depraved,  229-235 

outdoor  work  for,  75 
Wood,  13 
Wood-lot,  13,  42 
Work,  rule  about,  70.     See  also 

Employment. 
Workhouse,  English,  4,  66,  67,  68 

origin  of  the  system,  149-157 
Workhouse  nursing,  227-228 
Wright,  A.  O.,  v 


Yankton,  South   Dakota,  219, 

220 
Yearly  contracts,  90 


263 


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